IRLF 


V 


o  o  r  s  a  n  o'e  r 


/  DM;  J" 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

OIFT  OF 

\i 

Class 


I 


ZIONISM 


Open  Letters  Written  By 

REV.  DR.  JACOB  VOORSANGER, 

of  San  FrancL/co,  CaJ., 

To 

HON.  SIMON    WOLF, 

of  Washington,  D.  C. 


1903-04. 


THE    LIPPMAN    PRINTING    CO. 


I. 

You  ask  me,  my  dear  friend,  to  express  an  opinion  of 
your  article  against  Zionism,  republished  in  theCrifcriott, 
as  well  as  of  the  correspondence  between  Professor  Gott- 
lieil  and  yourself  resulting  from  this  article.  I  do  so  with 
alacrity,  the  more  because,  in  view  of  recent  criticisms  of 
my  own  utterances,  I  have  been  constrained  to  review 
my  attitude  toward  Zionism,  believing  it  necessary  that 
we,  who  so  persistently  condemn  the  methods  by  which 
the  Zionists  seek  to  accomplish  the  salvation  of  our  peo- 
ple, should  have  "a  clear  case,"  and  should  be  able  to 
dissipate  the  fallacies  which  underlie  the  movement,  even 
if  in  the  prosecution  of  the  case  we  should  have  to  admit 
that,  at  the  present  time  at  least,  we  can  present  no  plan 
of  our  own  to  mitigate  the  sorrows  of  the  greater  half  of 
the  people  of  Israel.  Nor  will  it  be  necessary  to  present 
4 'schemes."  Cut-and-dried  plans  based  upon  sentiment 
only  would  be  an  evidence  that  the  people  indulging  such 
plans  have  not  sufficiently  measured  the  distance  between 
cause  and  effect,  and  I  do  not  wish  to  be  guilty  of  so 
flagrant  an  error,  if  I  must  bend  my  energies  towards  the 
solution  of  problems  that  hitherto  have  proved  insoluble 
if  viewed,  as  they  should  be,  from  the  rational,  practical 
standpoint  of  economics,  politics,  and  government.  In 
other  words,  if,  no  matter  how  beautiful  and  inspiring 
sentiment  may  be  and  undoubtedly  is,  we  could  prove  by 
the  physical  fact  that  Zionism  is  a  delusion  we  contrib- 
ute at  least  something  to  a  better  understanding  of  the 
questions  involved  in  that  one  word  Zionism,  that,  no 
matter  how  absurd,  should  always  command  our  rever- 
ent attention  for  its  root  is  Zion,  the  well-spring  of  the 
Thorah,  the  centrifugal  source  of  the  noblest  aspirations 

of  the  Jew-. 

*     #     # 

Pardon  me  for  a  personal  observation.  It  is  the  weak- 
ness of  Zionists  to  cast  aspersion  upon  the  loyalty  of  their 
opponents.  You  would  be  wrong  in  apologizing  for  your 

120151 


negative  attitude.  You  owe  no  man  an  apology.  Your 
loyalty  towards  your  people  is  a  matter  of  history ;  it  is  no 
longer  subject  to  contemporary  opinion.  For  forty  years 
and  more  you  have  given  the  best  of  yourself  to  the  ser- 
vice of  Israel.  By  day  and  by  night,  in  season  and  out  of 
season,  you  have  been  a  faithful  sentinel  of  our  interests, 
you  have  rendered  personal  service  that  in  degree  exceeds 
the  service  of  any  other  Jew.  Whilst  others  theorized 
you  practiced,  whilst  they  preached  you  toiled,  whilst 
they  shouted  glory  beneath  flamboyant  banners  you  sat 
in  your  room  and  studied  our  advantages,  whilst  they 
thundered  from  the  tribunes  your  heart  prayed  for  us. 
You  need  not,  in  this  year  of  the  full  maturity  of  your 
noble  career,  apologize  for  your  attitude  towards  Zionism. 
Let  the  others  apologize.  Let  them  explain  the  fanaticism 
that  blinds  their  eyes  and  fetters  their  reason ;  the  bigotry 
that  fulminates  against  the  best  friends  and  lovers  of 
Israel,  because  the  latter  demand  the  infusion  of  common 
sense  into  the  dreams  of  the  period ;  fearing  that  our  peo- 
ple will  be  led  astray  and  in  the  end  become  still  more 
unhappy  because  of  the  bitter  contrast  between  the  reali- 
ties and  the  gorgeous  fancies  deft  hands  had  woven  before 
their  deluded  eyes.  God  bless  you  and  give  you  increase 
of  strength  in  this  your  seventieth  year;  remain  what  you 
are,  the  splendid  type  of  the  American  Jew,  by  which 
many  of  us  younger  men  have  fashioned  ourselves;  and, 
I  beg  of  you,  let  a  noble  perseverance  in  your  practical, 
intelligent  attitude  towards  all  Jewish  questions,  be  the 
continued  security  that  we  may  rely  upon  you  in  our 
battle  for  the  preservation  of  the  holiest  interests  of  our 
people.  As  for  me,  I  am  neither  afraid  nor  dismayed, 
though  I  have  been  roughly  handled  of  late.  The  more 
opposition,  the  greater  the  need  of  review.  If  we  are  de~ 
nied  the  constitutional  elements  of  love  for  and  loyalty  to 
our  people,  we  can  best  refute  the  charge  by  a  continu- 
ance of  our  protest  against  the  hare-brained  schemes  which 
from  the  first  aroused  our  resentment.  And  nov  for  a 

review  of  the  facts. 

*     *     * 


5 

I  admit,  at  the  very  outset,  the  necessity  for  a  mighty 
international  Jewish  organization,  for  the  treatment  of 
questions  and  problems  that  affect  our  people  the  world 
over.  I  would  gladly  join  such  an  organization,  for  my 
heart  weeps  at  the  helplessness  we  exhibit  in  the  face  of 
difficulties  that  invite  common  and  united  action.  I  am 
dismayed  at  the  coldness  of  the  Western  Jew ;  at  his  re- 
luctance to  face  situations  that  arise  as  often  from  the 
peculiar  constitution  of  our  people  as  from  the  complex 
political  or  psychical  causes  that  operate  against  them;  I 
am  aroused  by  the  selfishness  of  many  individuals  who 
believe  their  fortunes  and  social  environments  to  be  the 
cloaks  within  which  they  may  hide  from  the  responsibili- 
ties that  confront  every  Jew.  If  Zionism  can  be  that 
powerful  international  organization,  a  tremendous  solidar- 
ity, that,  without  at  any  time  assuming  any  political 
attributes  or  prerogatives,  shall  exercise  an  imposing 
moral  force  upon  all  iniquitous  governments,  upon  all 
the  enemies  of  justice,  equal  rights  and  humanity,  I  shall 
become  a  Zionist.  If,  at  the  present  time,  Zionism  stands 
for  an  active  sympathy  with  the  millions  of  our  unfortun- 
ate brethren,  and  if  it  further  stands  for  an  ardent  hope 
to  cleave  the  clouds  of  bitter  discontent  and  sorrow,  to  en- 
able the  light  of  redemption  to  break  through,  then  I  am 
already  a  Zionist.  I  have  never  hidden  or  denied  my 
sympathies.  I  am  a  lover  of  Zion.  I  honor  her  ruins 
and  reverence  her  dust.  The  unhappy  land  of  Israel  was 
the  cradle  of  a  race  that  fought  the  pagan  with  the  Voice 
of  God  as  its  sole  armament;  and  at  its  holy  sounds  the 
Pantheon  toppled  over.  The  voices  of  the  prophets  ring 
in  my  ears;  those  awful  protestations  against  heathendom, 
those  apostles  of  divinity,  those  missionaries  of  character 
—they  are  the  only  international  orators  recognized  this 
day.  Palestine  forged  the  world's  faith  in  God;  whatever 
truth  the  world  clings  to  in  this  time  of  outreaching,  came 
from  its  rocky  ranges.  In  the  wars  between  Jahveh  and 
the  gods,  Jahveh  wins;  in  the  battle  of  empires,  Assyria 
and  Egypt,  the  Alexandrian  power  and  Rome,  all  bite  the 
dust,  and  from  the  desolate  wastes  of  Judaea  a  handful  of 


teachers  go  forth  to  mould  anew  the  character  of  the 
generations  rising  from  the  ruins  of  a  dying  and  dead 
world.  From  Palestine  have  come  the  treasures  of 
humanity:  God,  holiness,  righteousness,  justice,  the  per- 
sonal attributes  that  distinguish  man,  the  structural  ele- 
ments of  government  that  constitute  the  moral  aspects, 
the  only  true  aspects  of  his  civilization.  Palestine  is  the 
land  of  our  fathers,  and  our  fathers  were  the  noblest 
idealists  of  mankind.  Palestine  was  the  cradle  of  our 
faith,  and  our  faith  is  the  purest  in  existence.  To  remain 
unimpressed  with  so  much  dignity,  to  remain  uninspired 
by  the  epics  of  religion  sung  in  that  dear  land,  by  the 
wisdom  taught  in  its  schools,  by  the  flames  of  a  holy  ser- 
vice that  rose  heavenward,  to  feel  nothing  of  the  spirit  of 
its  poets,  the  music  of  its  singers,  the  ardor  of  its  prophets 
or  the  sanctifying  love  of  its  people  for  the  God  who  sym- 
bolizes every  element  of  truth,  purity  and  righteousness, 
is  to  be  ignorant  of  the  proud  chronicles  wherein  is  writ 
the  story  of  the  past.  Only  a  callous  materialist,  only  a 
perverted  time-server,  only  an  empty-headed  ignoramus 
will  not  feel  the  touch  of  pride  upon  his  heart  wiien  these 
holy  facts  are  recited,  nor  deny  the  full  measure  of  his 
reverence  to  the  land  bathed  in  holiness,  the  very  rocks 
of  which  re-echo  the  inspiration  of  immortal  prophets.  If 
being  imbued  with  such  sentiments  means  being  a  Zion- 
ist, assuredly  I  am  one  of  the  most  ardent.  But  if,  in 
addition,  Zionism  stands  for  a  translation  of  such  senti- 
ments into  the  belief  that  the  past  can  and  must  be  re- 
stored along  political  lines,  then  I  am  unfortunately  an 
anti-Zionist.  For  my  love  and  reverence  for  Zion  have  no 
political  element  whatever  in  them. 

Again,  if  an  ardent  desire  to  contribute  something  to 
the  solution  of  present-day  problems  makes  one  a  Zionist, 
1  am  assuredly  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic.  God  knows 
I  am  not  blind  to  the  besetting  difficulties  of  our  exist" 
ence.  Only  a  handful  of  us  have  peace  and  liberty;  all 
the  rest  have  sorrow  and  contention.  Sometimes  I  hold 
the  thought  that  our  history  has  never  presented  the 
problems  we  are  called  upon  to  so'lve  in  this  age  of  super- 


7 

ior  or  supreme  civilization.  Our  fathers  faced  problems 
of  settlement  and  reconstruction,  made  difficult  by  race- 
hatred, by  the  arrogance  of  the  master  towards  the  slave, 
by  contempt  for  his  simple  faith,  for  the  latter  in  the  days 
of  greatest  despondency  was  masterful  towards  the  heathen 
and  the  Christian.  Yet  our  fathers  lived  in  seclusion, 
and  so  often  escaped  the  notice  of  the  evil-minded,  having 
often  their  periods  of  peace,  when  they  could  revive  and 
restore  the  breaches  made  by  the  enemy.  But  we,  we 
live  in  the  open;  we  demand  a  share  in  the  world's  activ- 
ities ;  we  claim  our  legitimate  share  in  the  progress  of  the 
times,  and  are  confronted  with  hampering  difficulties  that 
are  only  equaled  in  degree  by  our  marvellous  tenacity. 
For  one  problem  of.  a  thousand  years  ago  we  have  a  dozen. 
There  is  a  Jewish  problem  in  every  country,  and  each  has 
its  different  aspects.  There  is  the  problem  of  Russia,  the 
disfranchisement  of  millions  of  our  brethren,  victims  of  a 
government  that  makes  them  pawns  on  its  political  chess- 
board, inciting  its  own  populace  to  whatever  the  game  re- 
quires, including  murder  and  rapine  and  every  other 
crime  in  the  calendar.  There  is  the  problem  of  Rou- 
mania,  the  refined  cruelty  of  a  petty  government  that 
deliberately  studies  the  means  of  reducing  three  hundred 
thousand  intelligent  people  to  the  condition  of  pariahs, 
that  legislates  damnation  for  them,  that  pretends  its 
cruelty  to  be  an  expression  of  decent  government,  that 
invokes  the  horrors  of  persecution  to  rid  itself  of  its  in- 
cubus. There  is  the  problem  of  Germany,  land  of  sages, 
singers  and  philosophers,  land  of  industry  and  commerce, 
giant  exponent  of  nineteenth  century  civilization,  where 
the  Jew  has  contributed  his  share  to  the  country's  great- 
ness, having  fought  in  its  wars,  having  fallen  on  its  battle- 
fields, having  explore  I  its  colonies,  exploited  its  enter- 
prises, built  its  ships,  made  it  great  in  science  and  art, — 
where  the  Jew  votes  and  pays  taxes,  where  he  is  assimi- 
lated according  to  his  own  notion,  but  where  race  preju- 
dice is  supreme  and  rampant,  where  Teutonic  arrogance 
forbids  his  calling  himself  a  German,  where  a  quasi- 
Christian  government  plays  the  hand  of  his  enemies  by 


barring  his  advancement  in  the  army,  in  the  government 
bureaux  and  in  the  universities.  That  German1  problem 
is  the  most  humilating  of  all,  dear  friend;  for  Germany 
exacts  more  service  from  the  Jew  than  any  other  country, 
yet  in  proportion  gives  him  less  compensation,  and  frowns 
at  him  because  the  blood  of  the  Teuton  is  not  in  his  veins. 
Germany  has  one  of  the  most  composite  populations  on 
the  face  of  the  earth ;  yet  few  there  could  trace  their 
origin.  Teutonic  self-glorification!  robs  him  of  the  advan- 
tages, if  not  of  the  conditions  of  his  citizenship.  I  am 
not  pleased  with  the  spirit  of  the  German  Jew.  In  the 
slang  of  the  West  he  "knocks  under."  In  Germany 
originated  the  great  Reform  movement,  yet  the  German 
Jew  to-day,  worn  jut  by  incessant  social  prejudice  and 
ibe  government  policy  of  excluson,  resorts  to  baptism  to 
secure  the  advantages  which  are  denied  him  as  a  faithful 
consistent  worshipper  of  the  God  of  his  fathers.  That,  too, 
is  a  problem,  this  wholesale  regenacy,  this  numerous  de- 
fection from  our  ranks,  resulting  in  the  alienaton  of  thou- 
sands of  Jewish  families.  Then  there  is  a  French  prob- 
lem, the  problem  of  an  inflammable  population  being  used 
to  subserve  the  execrable  ends  of  low-minded  politicians, 
the  problem  of  a  church  translating  its  deathless  enmity 
to  the  Jews  into  a  continuous  appeal  to  the  superstitious 
hatred  of  an  ignorant  peasantry,  the  problem  of  one  man 
becoming  the  vicarious  victim  of  his  people,  a  mere  hand- 
ful, a  loyal  band  who  worshipped  and  idolized  France 
and  all  the  glory  for  which  she  stands;  yet  upon  whom 
shame  and  contumely  have  been  visited,  because  the  wild 
passions  of  a  volatile  people  were  formed  by  corrup- 
tionists  who  kept  out  of  prison  by  fastening  their  guilt 
upon  this  one  innocent  man,  who  still  faces  the  world 
with  the  story  of  his  wrongs  and  still  cries  out  for  the 
justice  the  entire  French  nation  has  denied  him.  Then 
there  is  the  problem  of  England  and  America,  God- 
blessed  homes  of  truly  free  nations;  but  the  awful  prob- 
lem of  regiments  of  poor  people  herding  together  in  the 
seaports,  competing  in  open  market  for  whatever  labor 
they  can  obtain,  so  reducing  schedules  of  wages,  origin- 


9 

ati::g  sweat  shops,  toiling  day  and  night  for  pitifully 
small  wages,  generating  disease  and  pauperism,  and  de- 
spite their  residence  in  free  countries  beirg  poorer,  and 
becoming  more  despondent  than  they  ever  were  in  their 
native  homes.  Then  there  is  the  problem  of  the  poverty 
of  our  people  all  over  the  world — does  it  not  seem  strange 
to  venture  upon  such  a  statement  in  the  face  of  the  gen- 
eral superstition  that  we  are  all  rich? — the  terrible  prob- 
lem of  the  pauper  population  of  Palestine,  of  the  squalor 
and  misery  of  the  Jews  of  the  Levantine  and  African 
ports,  of  their  humiliation  and  degradation  in  Oriental 
and  semi-Oriental  countries.  There  is  the  problem  of 
social  prejudice  against  the  Occidental  Jew,  more  or  less 
pronounced  everywhere,  the  reluctance  of  classes  to 
accq>t  him  as  an  equal,  the  stupid  discrimination  against 
him,  the  clamor  against  him,  his  life,  his  habits,  his 
genius,  proving  only  too  -well  that  a  declaration  of  politi- 
cal rights  does  not  include  a  generous  appreciation  of 
the  social  equality  of  all  religions.  However,  this  prob~ 
lem  has  its  two  sides,  which  we  may  discuss  some  other 
time.  But  there  is  the  last,  and  possibly  the  most  over- 
whelming and  vexatious  problem  of  them  all,  the  un- 
speakable horror  of  white  slavery,  that  has  made  us  all 
weep  tears  of  blood,  for  our  holiest  treasure  is  our  woman- 
hood, ami  the  squalor,  the  misery,  the  poverty  of  our  un- 
happy people  have  at  last  reached  such  a  degree  that  the 
ancient  treasures  of  purity  and  chastity  are  not  held  as 
precious  as  they  were  wont  to  be.  Do  you  know  of  any- 
thing that  contradicts  civilization  mt>re  flatly  than  this 
beastly  industry,  that  thrives  upon  hunger,  appeals  to 
anarchy,  and  grips  young  girls  by  the  throat  to  render 
them  more  desolate  than  death  itself?  Ah.  how  helpless 
we  are,  we  in  the  West,  we  with  our  fine  men  and  beau- 
tiful women,  we  with  our  millionaires,  our  opulent  mer- 
chants, our  eloquent  lawyers,  learned  doctors  and  sage 
university  professors,  we  who  glory  in  our  heritage,  who 
speak  proudly  of  our  achievements, — ah.  how  helpless 
we  are,  standing  by  coldly,  passively,  doing  nothing  to- 
wards the  necessity  of  the  hour,  relying  npon  'our  rights 


10 

that  no  harm  shall  come  nigh  us,  looking  for  protection 
to  the  Constitution,  laughing  at  and  scorning  social 
prejudice  as  harmless, — ah,  how  helpless  we  are,  because 
we  have  lost  the  consciousness  of  our  Jewish  individual- 
ity, because  our  sympathies  are  dead  or  dormant,  because 
\\  e  fancy  these  problems  are  so  far  away  from  us  that  our 
hand  is  not  strong  enough  to  reach  out  to  them !  Of  this, 
too,  am  I  conscious :  that  we  have  not  been  active  enough, 
generous  enough,  liberal  enough.  We  repose  in  our  fan- 
cied security;  when  we  are  liberal  it  is  with  the  liberality 
of  those  whose  doors  are  stormed  and  who  must  open 
them  lest  violence  enforces  the  request  for  aid.  But  now 
—what  can,  what  shall  -we  do  towards  the  solution  of 
these  problems?  Here  Zionism  professes  its  ability  to  cut 
the  Gordian  knot.  All  this  unhappiness,  all  this  conten- 
tion, all  these  problems  can  be  solved  by  a  movement 
to  restore  the  nationality  of  Israel.  Withdraw  from  the 
countries  where  these  problems  have  originated,  and  the 
problem  will  be  no  more.  The  suggestion  is  alluring  and 
fascinating.  Shall  we,  you  and  I,  join  the  ranks  of 
the  Zionists  upon  that  platform?  If  so,  there  can  be  no 
objection  if  we  thoroughly  investigate  the  feasibility  and 
practical  aspects  of  the  suggestion.  Let  this  investigation 
be  my  privilege  in  the  next  installment. 

II. 

It  seems  to  me,  dear  friend,  there  can  be  no  objection 
to  a  full  and  honest  investigation  of  the  claims  of  Zionism 
to  our  loyalty  and  adherence.  We  do  not  wish  to  "go  it 
blind."  We  do  not  want  our  common  sense  smothered 
by  mere  phrases,  nor  our  logic  by  sentiment.  If  we  must 
join  the  ranks,  it  must  be  as  free  men  who  are  convinced 
that  they  are  taking  the  right  step,  whose  scruples  are 
met  and  whose  objections  are  answered.  To  expect  our 
loyalty  upon  any  other  conditions  would  be  unfair  and  un- 
reasonable. 

*     *     * 

I  confess  when  Zionism  first  made  it  appearance,  I  was 
considerably  taken  with  it.  It  appealed  to  me.  It  seemed 


II 

to  me  that  Dr.  Herzl  had  begun  a  movement  that  would 
change  the  history  of  our  people.  Reasoning  with  him 
I  believed  I  saw  the  logic  of  the  new  cause.  It  appeared 
to  me  as  a  practical  scheme  to  realize  the  long-deferred 
hopes  of  Israel.  True  it  is  that  the  majority  of  our  peo- 
ple are  still  strangers  in  strange  lands.  The  final  awaken- 
ir.g  to  the  awful  fact  that  they  are  not  merely  strangers, 
but  will  be  kept  in  the  condition  of  aliens  by  governments 
which  persist  in  denying  them  both  their  personal  and 
political  rights,  seemed  to  justify  a  movement  for  the  re- 
nationalization  of  Israel.  To  know  that  our  brethren 
would  be  finally  and  permanently  redeemed  from  the 
grinding  political  injustice  of  foreign  governments  or 
from  nations  that  kq)t  their  hearts  and  affections  closed 
against  them,  aroused  in  me  a  desire  to  associate  myself 
with  so  fascinating  a  ca\ise.  I  permitted  my  sentiment  to 
control  my  reason.  I  saw,  and  I  gloried  in  the  sight.  I 
saw  the  land  of  Israel,  according  to  the  visions  of  Biblical 
poets,  rehabilitated  and  resurrected.  I  saw  the  millions 
marching  to  the  seaports,  or  following  the  old  high  roads 
of  the  world's  armies  through  Asia  Minor,  to  take  peace- 
ful possession  of  their  ancient  inheritance.  I  saw  Russia 
depopulated  and  made  poor;  Roumania  punished  by  the 
destruction  of  her  industries;  Germany  amazed  at  the 
logical  outcome  of  her  own  prejudices ;  the  Bible  Chris- 
tians of  England  and  America  shouting  glory  because  the 
prophecies  had  come  to  pass.  I  saw  the  land  in  its  an- 
cient beauty,  from  Lebanon  to  the  southern  desert,  from 
the  Great  Sea  to  the  Salt  Lake.  I  saw  the  waste  places 
restored,  the  cities  rebuilt,  the  land  redeemed.  I  saw  the 
cedars  restored  on  Lebanon,  the  vineyards  and  orchards 
on  Carmel,  the  roses  blooming  in  the  drained  marshes  of 
Sharon.  I  saw  Esdraelon,  battlefield  of  Israel,  re-appear 
in  the  golden  glory  of  the  wheat  harvest;  Galilee  re-pop- 
ulated with  a  sturdy  stock  of  husbandmen ;  I  saw  the 
lakes  made  rich  by  the  industry  of  its  fishermen ;  I  saw 
the  mountaineers  of  Judah  looking  down  with  affection 
upon  the  sheltered  valleys.  And  beyond  Jordan  I  saw  the 
mountains  of  Moab  and  the  fat  lands  of  Bashan  teeming 


12 

with  the  shepherds  and  their  kine,  restored  to  their  ancient 
title  and  redeemed  from  the  squalor  of  the  fellaheen.  And 
in  the  midst  of  it  all  I  saw  Jerusalem,  capital  city  of  the 
republic  of  Israel,  resting  on  her  hills,  once  again  the 
world's  refuge,  the  heart  of  the  nations,  and  along  the 
terraced  Temple  mount  there  swarmed  a  population  that 
looked  with  eyes  aglow  with  piety  towards  the  new 
Sanctuary  that  had  become  the  new  centre  o<f  the  world's 
religious  aspirations,  made  richer  by  the  piety  and  learn- 
ing of  ministers  who  had  learned  to  read  the  Word  of  God 
aright  because  Israel  had  at  last  reconquered  its  rightful 
place  in  the  world.  And  in  Jerusalem  was  no  pauper 
population;  it  was  a  city  of  freemen,  and  its  government 
was  so  absolutely  just,  it  understood  the  harmony  be- 
tween the  physical  and  moral  conditions  so  perfectly,  that 
the  Holy  City  had  become  the  joy  of  all  the  earth.  Jeru- 
shalayitn  Hab'benuyah!  Jerusalem  restored!  The  fascina- 
tion of  it  seemed  to  grow  o<n  me!  Even  then  I  thought 
not  so  much  of  political  attributes  as  of  the  glory  of  the 
spirit  that,  like  an  inexhaustible  flood,  had  its  source  at 
Zion ;  to  know  the  schools  rebuilt  and  filled  with  legions 
of  disciples,  to  know  Jerusalem  the  centre  of  inspiration, 
to  know  that  the  idealism  of  our  people  had  at  last  its 
habitat,  and  that  its  influence  would  radiate  throughout 
the  world;  to  know  that  the  new  republic  would  be 
founded  in  justice  and  its  inhabitants  led  by  righteous- 
ness, to  know  that  the  enmity  of  the  world  was  finally 
destroyed,  and  every  promise  o<f  God  through  His  seers 
had  been  fulfilled, — to  know  that  Israel  would  weep  no 
more,  and  that  its  land  would  be  cherished  by  all  the 
nations — all  this,  friend,  had  a  fascination  beyond  ex" 
pression  for  me,  and  I  hoped,  if  our  own  condition  did 
not  justify  our  uprooting,  that  we  might  assist  in  the  de- 
population of  the  countries  inimical  to  our  people  and 
help  to  make  the  land  of  Israel  great,  according  to  our 
interpretation  of  the  law  and  the  prophets.  But  when  I 
expressed  my  sympathy  with  so  glorious  a  scheme  I  was 
told,  rather  cynically,  that  I  was  a  Messianist,  not  a  Zion- 
ist; that  Zionism  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  babbling  of 


l/N/VERS/r, 

13 

dreamers,  nothing1  to  do  with  the  unpractical  ideals  of 
visionaries;  that  it  was  a  practical  scheme  with  no  Mes- 
sianic background ;  that  it  had  a  political,  not  a  religious 
aspect;  that  it  meant  restoration  of  the  nationality  of 
Israel  upon  the  mere  basis  of  political  recognition;  that  it 
looked  for  homes  for  the  homeless  wherever  such  homes 
could  be  legally  secured  and  protected;  that  it  was  a 
movement  necessitated  by  continued  anti-Semitic  agita- 
tion, looking  to  the  transplanting  of  our  people,  where- 
ever  that  could  be  peacefully  accomplished,  but  prefer- 
ably in  Palestine;  and  that  it  was  my  duty  to  join  this 
international  movement  because  the  Jew  had  no  home 
and  ought  to  have  a  place  where  he  could  lay  his  head 
unmolested.  In  brief,  I  was  asked  to  join  a  movement 
that  claimed  to  have  a  purely  practical  basis,  and  this 
being  the  case,  can  it  be  wrong  to  investigate  this  "prac- 
tical basis?"  I  never  argue  my  ideals  because  I  feel 
them;  they  are  not  subject,  to  the  tests  of  logic;  but  when 
1  am  asked  to  engage  in  practical  work  I  want  to  discuss 

things  and  know  where  I  stand. 

*     *     * 

Therefore,  it  is  the  practical  aspect  of  Zionism  that  we 
must  consider.  Let  us  say  to  our  friends  who  sympathize 
with  that  movement  that  we  are  agreed  with  them  as  to 
the  necessity  of  solving  the  problems  of  our  existence  as 
a  distinct  family;  but  that  they  must  give  us  security  that 
their  plans  are  practical.  I  have  looked  into  their  plans 
and  find  them  impractical.  Moreover  I  have  presented 
my  objections  and  can  find  no  one  to  say  they  are  ground- 
less. My  idealism  is  ridiculed,  and  yet  when  I  place  my- 
self upon  a  practical  basis  I  am  charged  with  a  lack  of 
faith  and  idealism.  \Yhen  I  ask  how  the  Zionists  intend 
to  accomplish  their  object  I  am  referred  to  the  records  of 
the  Basle  Congresses,  and  yet  I  find  in  these  records  noth- 
ing but  the  most  poetical  idealism.  When  I  ask  what 
may  be  the  modus  opcrandi  for  the  peaceful  conquest  of 
our  ancestral  territory,  I  am  told  rather  mysteriously, 
that  it  is  as  yet  a  "state  secret."  It  seems  that  Zionism, 
as  to  its  external  organization,  is  composed  of  a  few 


14 

leaders  who  may  or  may  not  have  a  distinct  plan  of 
action,  and  of  a  multitude  of  people  who  are  utterly 
ignofant  of  the  true  aims  of  Zionism,  people  who  are 
moved,  as  I  am  moved,  by  the  unhappiness  of  their  co- 
religionists to  anticipate  a  vague  something,  who  are 
filled  with  love  for  the  old  Jewish  ideals  and  believe  them 
capable  of  realization,  but  who  reason  no  further  than  the 
admission  that  the  great  scheme  of  reparation  can  be 
easily  accomplished.  I  have  attended  Zionist  meetings 
and  discovered  this  lack  of  tangibility,  this  traumerei  on 
the  part  of  people  who  denounce  my  idealism  as  anti-Zion- 
istic.  For  my  dreams  I  am  asked  to  accept  a  substitute, 
that  is  all.  I  have  attended  mass  meetings  in  the  city  of 
New  York.  I  witnessed  a  demonstration  that  made  me 
shout  with  enthusiasm.  I  heard  Maslianski,  noblest  of 
Jewish  tribunes,  when  he  electrified  ten  thousand  people 
with  his  matchless  eloquence.  But,  really,  I  heard  nothing 
concerning  what  I  desired  to  know.  I  heard  the  story  of 
Jewish  persecution  and  was  moved  to  tears;  I  heard  of 
the  need  of  restoring  a  Jewish  sympathy  with  Jewish 
thought  and  activity  and  approved ;  I  heard  of  the  scheme 
to  create  in  Palestine — or  elsewhere — a  home  for  the  dis- 
persed of  Israel,  a  home  legally  guaranteed  and  protected 
by  the  Powers,  and  was  interested.  But  not  one  word 
about  the  practical  aspect  of  the  Jewish  question.  Not 
one  word,  whether  this  plan,  so  easily  accomplished  in 
the  visions  of  an  idealist,  was  in  accord  with  all  the  prac- 
tical principles  and  ideas  that  underlie  organization  and 
the  making  of  nations.  So  far  as  idealism  is  concerned, 
it  seems  to  me  the  Zionists  have  never  the  best  of  us. 
We  seek  to  accomplish  all  they  look  for.  Our  hearts  are 
as  sore  as  theirs.  Our  hopes  are  as  ardent  as  theirs. 
We,  too,  wish  to  help  our  people.  Our  teachers,  too, 
have  reproached  us  for  our  lack  of  sympathy,  and  have 
urged  the  paramount  need  of  resuscitating  that  Jewish 
consciousness  that  will  awaken  greater  activity  on  the 
part  of  our  people  along  distinctly  Jewish  lines.  But — 
this  is  the  real  point  of  departure — we  differ  on  economic 
grounds,  and,  beyond,  I  believe  we  differ  radically  in  con" 


ception  how  the  problems  of  the  day  should  be  attacked, 
'i  he  successful  solution  of  a  problem  depends  very  much 
upon  our  logical  attitude  towards  it.  Since  I  am  told  that 
Zionism  presents  a  practical,  not  an  ideal  problem,  it  is 
therefore  my  duty  to  eliminate  all  idealism,  to  consider 
it  with  cold  reason,  and  to  ascertain,  so  far  as  the  plans 
of  its  leaders  have  leaked  out,  whether  there  is  any  prac- 
tical basis  to  it.  I  have,  accordingly,  arrived  at  some 
conclusions. 

*     *     * 

The  restoration  of  the  nationality  of  Israel  that,  from 
an  ideal  aspect,  appears  so  alluring  and  fascinating,  is, 
from  a  practical  point  of  view,  beset  with  difficulties  the 
Zionist  leaders  have  not  yet  pretended  can  be  overcome. 
Ideally,  the  pictures  I  have  drawn  look  beautiful;  prac- 
tically, they  need  to  be  examined  and  analyzed.  If,  in 
the  similitudes  of  the  prophets,  we  permit  ourselves  a 
glance  at  the  great  achievements  of  the  "latter  days"  we 
have  no  right  for  a  moment  to  suppose  that  the  redemp- 
tion of  Israel  comes  without  human  effort,  and  the  latter 
according  to  the  wonted  experience  of  mankind  as  re- 
corded in  history.  From  that  point  of  view  the  restora- 
tion becomes  an  exceedingly  vexatious  problem,  not,  in- 
deed, insoluble,  but  subject  to  the  law  that  makes  and 
unmakes  nations.  "Are  nations  born  in  a  day"?  Can 
the  Jewish  nation  be  resuscitated  by  the  fiat  of  congresses 
or  by  the  screaming. of  preachers,  or  by  the  shouts  .of 
enthusiasts?  Setting  aside  the  fact  that  we  are  not  a 
nation  because  we  lack  every  element  of  national  sov- 
e^eignty.  do  we  really  posses  the  physical,  the  mental, 
the  nsYchioal,  even  the  physiological  attributes  of  nation- 
hood? Without  argument,  we  do  not.  We  are,  indeed, 
united  by  ties  of  blood,  religion  and  tradition.  But  we 
are  divided  into  numerous  fractions,  whose  blood,  relig- 
ion, sentiment,  though  presenting  superficially  the  same 
outlines,  have  become  modified  by  long  centuries  of 
adaptation  to  the  environments  of  other  nations.  It  i& 
true  that  the  French  Jew,  the  German  Jew,  the  African 
Jew,  the  American  Jew,  have  the  same  religion,  worship 


i6 

the  same  God,  draw  inspiration  from  the  same  spiritual 
anl  literary  sources,  but  when  this  general  fact  is  made 
specific  by  environment,  we  discover  differences  that  can 
not  be  overcome  in  a  night.  The  nationalization  of  the 
Jew  predicates  the  possibility  of  his  denationalization,  and 
it  is  reasonable  to  inquire,  first,  whether  that  is  possible; 
secondly,  whether  it  is  desirable.  The  picture  may  be 
alluring,  but  humanly  speaking,  it  will  take  centuries  to 
draw  and  consummate  it.  It  may  be  possible  to  denation- 
alize our  people  everywhere,  and  subsequently  nationalize 
them;  but  the  time,  the  time  it  will  take!  Let  history 
speak  for  itself.  Consider  the  facts,  not  ideally,  but  as 
they  are, — how  old  is  the  English  nation?  How  many 
centuries  between  the  Roman  Conquest  and  the  Wars  of 
the  Roses  before  the  Englsh  people  lost  the  consciousness 
of  being  cut  up  in  factions,  that  is  to  say,  before  it  attained 
a  national  consciousness?  And  yet,  originally,  Normans. 
Danes,  Saxons,  Anglos,  were  of  a  common  stock,  common 
enough  to  acknowledge  the  affinities  of  blood,  language, 
genius  and  religion.  How  old  is  the  French  nation  ? 
How  many  centuries  from  Charlemagne  to  Louis  XIV., 
the  first  monarch  who  might  really  be  said  to  govern  a 
nation  endowed  with  genius,  as  may  be  proved  by  the 
corresponding  birth  of  the^ classical  *era  in  French  litera- 
ture? A  Shakespeare  represents  the  expression  of  a 
national  genius;  and  so  are  Racine.  Moliere,  Corneille 
and  La  Fountaine — to  mention  these  only — the  expressons 
of  a  national  genius  that  required  half  a  millennium  in 
the  making.  "Rome  was  not  built  in  a  day"  is  a  trite 
expression  that  presents  the  forcible  historical  suggestion 
that  the  Roman  nation — if  the  latter  word  might  he 
applied  to  the  handful  that  subjugated  the  world- 
attained  its  position  only  after  centuries  of  development. 
We  speak,  of  course,  of  an  American  nation,  and  yet  it 
may  be  doubted,  speaking  with  clue  reservation,  whether 
that  word  applies  literally  and  in  its  true  sense  to  the 
aggregation  of  elements  that  compose  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  According  to  one  of  the  most  noted  econ- 
omists of  the  last  century,  De  Tocqueville  himself,  such 


17 

an  aggregation  of  elements  is  sufficient  to  constitute  a 
nation  by  their  common  obedience  to  law  and  their  sub- 
scription to  a  common  constitution;  but  I  can  not  alto- 
gether follow  the  great  Frenchman  in  such  a  conclusion, 
for  nationhood  means  more  than  seclusion  within  terri- 
torial limits,  a  common  language  or  a  common  law.  It 
means,  above  all  things,  a  national  consciousness,  a  na- 
tional genius,  if  I  may  be  permitted  that  paradox,  a  na- 
tional individuality.  Again,  look  at  the  history  of  our 
own  people.  The  tradition  has  it  that  the  national  spirit 
asserted  itself  in  the  time  of  Samuel  the  Seer,  by  clamor- 
ing for  a  king.  I  shall  not  cavil  at  the  tradition  by  point- 
ing out  that  long  after  Samuel  the  homogeneity  of  the  tribes 

was  still  a  debatable  proposition. 

*     *     * 

But  from  Abraham  to  Samuel — that  is  to  say,  histori- 
cally speaking,  from  the  time  of  the  scattered  nomads  to 
the  time  of  the  traditional  assumption  of  nationality  and 
homogeneity — how   many  centuries?      This   Zionistic   pre- 
mise, the  restoration  of  the  political  entity  of  the  Jew  may 
look  well  on  paper,  but  when  we  begin  to  test  it  by  the 
undisputed  facts  of  history,  where  do  we  land?    Of  course, 
I  have  hitherto  assumed  Zionism  from  its  political  aspect 
only.     I  know  there  are  other  aspects  and  I  will  not  for- 
get them.     But  this  political  aspect,  how  grotesque  it  looks, 
unless  we  are  prepared  to  engage  in  a  work,  the  consent 
of  the  Powers  being  assumed,  that  will  take  hundreds  of 
years,  even  if  we  acknowledge   that    the    homogeneity    of 
the  Jewish  elements    can    be    achieved    in    much    quicker 
time  than  that  of  other  tribes   or  races   which   now  con- 
stitute a   nation.       But    is    it    reasonable?     Does  not  the 
assumption   of  the  possibility   of   denationalizing   the  Jew 
constitute    a    dangerous    mental    reservation  that  his  na- 
tional    consciousness     is     assumed     and     therefore    easily 
changed.       Is    this  .true?      Is    not    the    German    Jew  a 
thoroughly    nationalized    German?      Is    not    the    Russian 
Jew,   despite  all   we  hear     to     the     contrary,   thoroughly 
Russianized?     Do  you  know  of  a  purer  Frenchman  than 
the  French  Jew?       I     know  of     no  better  American  than 


i8 

yourself  and  a  thousand  other  Jews,  and  what  does  this 
mean  but,  that,  in  addition  to  our  descent,  our  religion, 
our  tradition,  the  consicousness  of  the  national  life  of  our 
time  and  our  environments  has  passed  into  our  very 
being,  removable  only  through  generations  of  residence 
elsewhere?  For  are  not  our  children  more  American 
than  we  are,  and  will  not  each  succeeding  generation  of 
Jews  become  more  adapted  to  the  life,  the  genius,  the 
soul,  the  consciousness,  the  habit,  tastes  and  sentiments 
of  the  American  people?  How,  then,  can  a  new  nation 
spring  up  by  the  mere  ipse  dixit  of  enthusiasts,  even 
under  the  stress  of  persecution?  I  contend  that  the  pos- 
sibility of  such  an  achievement — the  birth  of  a  nation — 
rests  with  the  centuries.  Aye,  we  could  move  to  Pales- 
tine— assuming  the  land  to  be  ours  and  fit  to  respond  to 
the  demand  of  our  times — but  we  would  have  to  become 
subject  to  all  the  political,  the  economic,  the  mental  and 
psychical  processes  by  which  individuals,  families,  clans, 
communities  and  tribes  are  welded  into  a  nation,  before 
we  could  respond  either  to  the  conditions  of  organized 
nationhood  or  to  the  prophetical  ideals  of  restoration, 
without  which  Palestine  is  not  even  worthy  of  a  moment's 
consideration.  This  is  my  first  conclusion.  It  will  take 
centuries  to  bring  us  to  conditions  that  may  fairly  be 
assumed  to  represent  nationhood.  Meanwhile  what  is  to 
become  of  those  for  whom  there  will  be  no  room  in  the 
little  land?  Or,  as  I  have  so  often  protested,  is  the  Zion- 
ist scheme  merely  a  petty  colonization  scheme,  not  a  great 
plan  of  nationalization,  the  scheme  to  procure  a  home  for 
a  few  thousands  whose  farms  shall  be  mortgaged  to  the 
rich  Jews  of  England  and  America?  This  question  and 
many  others  will  engage  our  attention  in  subsequent 
chapters. 

III. 

As  I  am  writing,  dear  friend,  the  wires  are  charged 
with  dire  predictions  of  impending  disaster.  Another 
assault  upon  our  people  in  Russia  is  apprehended.  The 
Greek  saints  once  more  call  the  mob  to  the  communion  of 
blood,  the  feast  of  carnage.  These  millions,  whose  lives 


19 

depend  upon  the  arbitrament  of  ignorant  Moldavians  and 
drunken  Cossacks, — these  millions  unprotected  by  an  in- 
famous government,  are  they  again  to  be  terrorized, 
robbed,  assassinated?  I  pray  the  rumor  be  false,  the  news 
exaggerated.  I  hope  for  the  best  yet  fear  the  worst.  How 
long  yet,  O  Lord,  how  long? 

*  *     * 

Is  it  riot  remarkable  that,  in  the  very  face  of  this  o'er- 
harging  peril,  upon  the  verge  of  another  possible  mas- 
sacre, I  can  not  force  my  reasoning  faculties  into  any 
sympathy  whatever  with  the  Zionist  scheme?  Much  as  I 
feel  the  need  of  concentrated  action,  of  co-operative  strength 
and  activity,  I  place  no  dependence,  even  now,  upon  the 
Zionist  plans.  So  far  as  I  know  them  they  lack  practica- 
bilty.  We  have  looked  already  into  the  question  of 
nationality.  My  first  conclusion  was  that  the  Jewish 
people  must  first  be  denationalized  in  order  to  be  capable 
of  rationalization.  My  second  conclusion  is  that  the 
land  of  Israel,  from  a  political  and  economic  point  of 
view,  is  utterly  unfit  to  become  at  the  present  time  the 
home  of  a  nation  responding  to  the  condition  of  a  pro- 
gressive nation  of  the  twentieth  and  future  centuries.  And 
this  conclusion  I  must  proceed  to  analyze. 

*  *     * 

Let  us  assume,  for  argument's  sake,  that  every  descrip- 
tion of  the  Holy  Land  in  Scripture,  instead  of  being  the 
ideal  paraphrase  of  poets,  corresponds  to  the  physical 
conditions  of  the  country  as  it  then  existed.  But  in 
order  to  draw  the  economic  parallel  between  then  and  now, 
it  is  necessary  that  we  should  represent  the  facts  as  they 
were,  not  as  our  pious  imagination  pictures  them.  The 
Bible  is  the  handiwork  of  idealists.  Even  its  historians 
depicted  their  facts  wth  an  energy  exalted  by  poetic  fervor. 
Yet  the  economic  facts  of  the  past  -were  simple  enough. 
Our  fathers,  politically  speaking,  could  hardly  have  been 
called  a  progressive  nation.  They  were  agriculturists  and 
cattle  raisers.  This  leads  us  to  determine  the  fitness  of  their 
country  to  produce  sustenance  for  its  inhabitants.  It  will 


20 

not  be  denied,  I  suppose,  that  in  antiquity,  the  time  of  lim- 
ited intercourse  between  nations,  the  country  itself  was  the 
principal  source  of  a  people's  maintenance.  Palestine  could 
maintain  its  population,  and  borrowed  or  purchased  little 
food  from  its  neighbors.  That,  in  one  way,  is  an  advantage 
of  a  decided  character.  A  people  .that  can  feed  itself  and 
r.eeds  not  purchase  its  food  is  exceedingly  fortunate.  But, 
in  another  way,  this  self-same  source  for  national. content- 
ment becomes  a  source  of  stagnation  and  retrogression. 
Phoenicia,  which  had  to  purchase  its  food,  roamed  the 
world  over  for  it,  and  became  the  most  important  mari- 
time and  commercial  power  of  antiquity.  Rome,  which 
had  to  purchase  its  wheat  from  Egypt,  in  time  reached 
out  to  acquire  by  conquest  what  she  could  not  obtain  by 
clean  trading.  Again,  the  nations  who  produce  more 
than  is  needed  for  home  consumption  obtain  a  footing 
abroad  that  becomes  stronger  in  the  ratio  o<f  the  increase 
of  its  export  trades.  The  Phoenicians  were  traders,  not 
explorers.  They  carried  to  all  known  seaports  the  pro^ 
ducts  of  the  Syrian  markets.  Our  fathers  were  no  ex- 
porters and  imported  but  a  limited  number  of  commodi- 
ties from  Egypt  and  Syria,  much  to  the  disgust  of  the 
prophets.  The  latter  discovered  in  every  foreign  import- 
ation an  element  of  danger  that  would  spoil  the  life  of  the 
people  and  pervert  their  morals.  Simplicity  was  the  text 
of  the  polemics  that  should  characterize  Jahveh's  people. 
That  is  all  beautiful  and  possibly  just  as  it  should  be;  but 
such  a  life  is,  from  the  secular  point  of  view,  unprogres- 
sive.  Marvelous  as  it  is,  that  this  simple  agricultural 
people,  disinclined  to  the  ways  of  the  Gentiles,  unprogres- 
sive  in  everything  but  the  great  moral  truths  that  came 
to  be  -its  great  heritage,  should  have  impressed  these 
truths  upon  the  conscience  of  the  world  and  made  them 
the  principal  element  in  a  civilization  by  them  contemned 
as  pagan — it  remains  a  fact  that  we  have  contributed 
little  else  to  the  material  elements  of  civilization.  We 
could  not  have  done  it.  The  land  could  not  produce  any 
thing  but  the  fruit  of  its  orchards,  the  wheat  of  its  fields, 
the  kine  of  its  mountain  sides,  and  the  supply  was  limited 


21 

to  the  population,  which  at  its  highest  tide  was  possibly 
three  millions.  The  land  was  utterly  unfit  for  extensive 
international  commerce.  Of  its  western  sea  coast  the 
southern  strip  was  Philistine,  the  northern  Phoenicia; 
and  the  central  strip  only  had  the  port  of  Joppa,  then  as 
now  of  no  commercial  significance.  Tradition  indeed 
tells  us  of  the  great  commercial  enterprises  of  King  Solo- 
mon, which  might  indicate  an  effort  to  place  Israel  in  the 
rank  of  commercial  nations;  but  there  is  no  evidence  that 
this  remote  commercial  activity  was  continued  after  the 
death  of  the  great  associate  and  correspondent  of  the 
Tynan  Hiram.  For  six  hundred  years  before  the  first 
exile,  and  six  hundred  years  afterwards,  the  land  of 
Israel  stood  for  nothing  in  the  economic  history  or  pro- 
gress of  the  then  known  world.  If  this  is  not  a  fact  it 
can  be  easily  refuted.  The  land  was  indeed  a  goodly 
land;  but  its  inhabitants  were  poor  and  frugal,  content 
with  the  fruit  of  their  labors,  gentle  instruments  for  those 
mighty  minds  who  conceived  the  conspiracy  against  the 
pantheons  of  the  world.  The  land  was  a  blessed  sr>ot,  I 
shall  not  deny  it ;  the  graphic  description  of  Deuteronomy 
i>  encouraging  enough  to  justify  such  a  conclusion, 
though  that  its  stones  were  iron  and  its  mountains 
charged  with  copper  is  just  a  bit  too  poetical  to  be  ac- 
cepted as  the  statement  of  an  absolute  fact.  But  agricul- 
turally the  land  was  fertile.  From  the  sea  eastward  the 
drained  marshes  of  Sharon  and  the  rising  meadows  of  the 
Shephelah  were  cultivable;  the  range  beyond  enclosed 
small  valleys  of  exceeding  fertility  and  there  was  no  lack 
of  water.  The  Egyptian  system  of  irrigation  was  not 
necessary.  Live  springs,  fertilizing  the  wadis,  ran  in 
every  direction.  The  hills  were  the  pasture  lands  for  the 
brown  sing  flocks,  and  on  their  summits  were  towns  and 
villages  populous,  contented,  but,  economically  speaking, 
stagnant.  To  the  north  where  the  valleys  broaden  out* 
until  above  the  fields  of  Smaria  we  have  the  broad  plain 
of  Esdraelon  running  almost  between  the  sea  and  the 
lake  of  Tiberias  where  there  is  room  for  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  people.  Beyond  the  Jordan  the  fat  land  of 


-  22 

Bashan,  the  rich  pasture  grounds  of  Gilead  still  indicate 
the  ancient  occupation  of  Reuben  and  Gael  and  the  half 
of  Manasseh.  Between  the  steep  banks  of  Jordan,  from 
the  Salt  Sea  as  far  north  as  Lake  Tiberias,  is  the  rich 
tropical  El  Ghor,  the  Jordan  valley,  now  the  personal 
domain  of  the  Sultan,  rich  in  all  the  produce  of  the 
tropics.  A  land  of  fruit  and  flowers  like  California,  a 
land  of  wheat  and  barley,  a  land  of  the  pomegranate  and 
oil  olive,  a  land  of  fat  kine,  a  land  of  milk  and  honey,  a 
land  of  wine  and  grape,  such  was  Palestine,  and  the  de- 
scription is  alluring  enough  to  justify  the  question  why 
so  goodly  a  land,  provided  its  strength  can  be  recovered, 
should  not  again  be  made  the  home  of  a  contented,  indus- 
trious people.  My  answer  to  this  question  might  appear 
sophistical  to  our  Zionist  brethren,  but  I  am  persuaded  that 
in  categoring  that  answer  I  represent  what  I  believe  to  be 

the  state  of  intelligent  Jewish  opinion  at  the  present  time. 

*  *     * 

First,  the  prophetical  policy,  if  such  it  may  be  called, 
and  afterwards  the  puritanical  policy  of  the  second  Jew- 
ish commonwealth,  discouraged  extensive  international 
intercourse.  The  main  element  in  that  policy  was  the 
preservation  of  monotheism,  or  negatively  the  danger  of 
heathen  contamination;  everything  else  was  subservient. 
The  result  was  that  whilst  our  fathers  became  the  people 
of  the  Book,  as  the  prophet  of  Arabia  called  them,  they 
cultivated  no  energy  for  that  international  outreaching  that 
characterized  their  Phoenician  neighbors.  Politically  they 
were  handicapped.  "Not  because  of  your  superior  num- 
bers did  the  Lord  find  desire  in  you  .  .  .  for  ye  are  but 
a  few"  was  already  the  opinion  of  the  Deuteronomist. 
Politically,  the  commonwealth  of  Israel  never  stood  for 
much.  Disjointed  and  heterogeneous  because  of  -the  phy- 
sical conformation  of  the  land,  the  Jewish  kingdoms  had 
no  standing  in  the  ancient  concert  of  powers.  Many  of 
the  kings  were  nothing  but  vassals  of  neighboring  over" 
lords;  if  for  brief  preiods  they  regained  independence  it 
was  but  to  lose  it  again  in  the  shuffle  so  characteristic  of 
Semitic  tribal  history.  Israel  could  maintain  itself  neither 


23 

against  the  kingdoms  of  Syria  nor  those  of  Assyria  and 
Babylonia,  nor  Egypt,  nor  the  tribes  of  Arabia;  its  polit- 
ical existence  was  harassed  and  precarious;  for  which  we 
have  the  testimony  of  sacred  historians  and  prophets. 
On  the  inscriptions  Jews  appear  as  tribute  bringing. 
Whilst  this  corresponds  completely  to  the  peaceful  char- 
acter of  our  ancestors,  called  because  of  that  very  charac- 
ter to  higher  service  than  man  at  that  time  comprehended, 
—it  nevertheless  explains  also  that  the  geographical  loca- 
tion of  Palestine  does  not  favor  the  development  of  a 
nation  competent  to  compete  in  the  ways  of  so-called 
civilization,  in  commerce,  in  politics,  in  the  exercises  that 
develop  national  greatness.  It  is  too  small  a  country  and 
its  location  is  unfavorable.  Anciently  that  unfavorable 
location  made  Palestine  a  buffer  country.  Ancient 
Egyptian  and  ancient  Babylonian  reached  out  to  each 
other  across  its  hills  and  mountains.  To-day  the  land  of 
Israel  still  bears  the  scars  of  the  most  ancient  warfare. 
On  its  soil  stepped  nation  after  nation,  not  so  much  to 
conquer  it,  but  to  find  the  way  to  Egypt  and  the  Greek 
isles.  Its  highest  roads  have  seen  processions  that  appalled 
the  peaceful  population  and  charged  the  air  with  the 
shouts  and  fanfares  of  war.  But  not  in  antiquity  alone 
has  Palestine  been  the  theatre  of  war,  whilst  its  inhabit- 
ants bore  the  brunt  of  conflict.  Its  soil  is  furrowed  with 
the  tracks  of  legions.  The  mountain  passes,  the  roads 
from  Gaza  and  Asqalon  northward,  the  plains  of  Jizre'el 
and  the  caravan  routes  leading  to  Damascus  have  been 
traversed  by  armies  that  recked  not  the  consequences  of 
invasion  to  the  poor  villagers.  From  Khammurabi  to 
Xapoleon  every  conqueror  has  mapped  the  narrow 
breadth  of  the  Holy  Land.  Then  again,  what  has  been. 
the  political  situation  of  Israel  after  the  renascence  of  the 
ration  in  the  times  of  Ezra?  Absolute  political  indeperr 
deuce  they  never  enjoyed.  Tributary  to  Persia,  then  to 
Alexander,  then  to  the  alternately  victorious  tribunes  of 
Eeypt  and  Syria,  then  a  short  shrift  of  independence  un- 
der the  Maccabees,  barely  one  hundred  years,  then  to 
Rome,  and  finally  utterly  bereft  of  a  home, — that  was  the 


24 

political  history  of  six  centuries.  \Ye  are  entitled  to  the 
highest  consideration  of  humanity  for  having  developed, 
maintained  and  preserved  during  all  these  centuries  the 
great  truths  that  constitute  the  moral  element  in  civiliza- 
tion, but  history  proves  that  the  teachers  of  mankind 
probably  just  because  they  were  moralists  and  philos- 
ophers, were  never  politicans  or  economists;  were  never 
imbued  with  the  genius  that  made  Greek  and  Roman, 
were  never  contestants  for  power  or  competitors  for 
wealth  whilst  they  lived  in  their  own  country  and  read 
in  the  stars  by  night  the  messages  that  they  translated 
unto  all  mankind.  No  world  conqueror  came  from  Pales- 
tine, if  conquest  spells  the  name  of  Khammurabi,  Sal- 
manesser,  Nebukkadnezzar,  Cyrus,  Alexander,  Selencus, 
Caesar,  Tamerlane,  Geoffrey  de  Boullion  and  Napoleon. 
But  if  conquest  spells  the  names  of  the  great  victors 
whose  matchless  teachings  are  incorporated  into  our 
blessed  Book,  if  it  spells  Moses  and  Isaiah,  and  the  great 
sages  that  represent  the  world's  concrete  wisdom,  then 
indeed  Palestine,  the  often-conquered,  stands  as  the  last 
victor  of  the  souls  of  men.  For  we  are  still  a  nation  of 
teachers.  Shall  we  ever  be  a  people  of  different  genius — 
outreaching  in  the  attributes  which  are  not  ours  by  nature 

or  the  gift  of  God? 

*     *     * 

Secondly,  the  future,  to  my  mind,  has  less  in  store  for 
Palestine  than  it  ever  enjoyed  in  the  past.  I  said  it  was 
never  a  great  country.  I  maintain  that  our  people  were 
never  distinguished  for  aught  but  the  great  wisdom  it  has 
brought  unto  the  world.  Our  fathers  were  neither  great 
merchants  nor  great  politicians.  The  genius  of  govern- 
ment is  not  inherent  in  us.  We  are  splendid  missionaries ; 
as  a  nation,  politically  speaking,  we  were  never  a  pro- 
nounced success.  Tell  me,  is  it  the  intention  of  the 
Zionists  to  reduce  the  energies  of  our  people  to  the  peace- 
ful vocations  of  olden  times?  If  not,  if  the  tremendous 
commercial  energy  of  the  Jews  is  to  be  maintained,  it  wrill 
again  be  legitimate  to  question  the  adaptability  of  Pales- 
tine to  modern  ways.  For  we  have  changed.  The  an- 


25 

cient  shepherds  and  husbandmen,  the  artisians,  scribes 
and  fishermen  from  the  days  of  Rome  have  become  con- 
verted into  a  mighty  guild  of  merchants,  manufacturers 
and  entrepreneurs.  The  change  is  historically  traceable. 
The  shepherds  and  the  peasants,  after  the  exile,  became 
accustomed  to  city  ways.  They  learned  the  trades  of  the 
world.  When  the  wandering  spirit  became  nature  in 
them  they  became  the  messengers  of  trade.  When  the 
cruel  discrimination  of  midiaeval  times  came  upon  them 
they  became  usurers.  Centuries  of  cruelty,  of  chicantery, 
of  man-hunting  sharpened  their  senses;  the  peaceable,  in- 
experienced denizens  of  Palestine  became  the  active,  alert, 
keen-witted,  danger-proof  communities  of  Europe  forever 
on  the  look  out  against  robber  barons,  foresworn  priests 
and  faithless  monarchs.  But,  let  the  history  be  as  it  may, 
the  fact  is  that  we  are  as  little  used  to  the  ways  of  our 
fathers  as  they  were  to  ours.  We  exercise  an  energy 
that  often  amazes  the  world,  so  marvelous  is  it.  We  have 
become  great  and  active  in  the  ways  of  civilization.  In 
England,  in  France,  America,  Germany,  Russia,  Italy,  in 
every  land  that  Affords  us  the  least  opportunity  to  exer- 
cise that  tremendous  commercial  energy,  developed  in  the 
persecution  of  the  middle  ages,  that  has  built  up  great 
communities  and  adds  to  the  power  of  the  countries  in 
which  we  live.  Can  that  same  energy  build  up  Pales- 
tine? Can  it  create  a  people,  competing  with  the  powers 
of  the  earth  for  domain  and  sovereignty?  Is  Palestine 
the  country  in  which  such  great  outreaching  can  be  made 
possible?  These  questions  must  be  answered  in  the  nega- 
tive. Palestine  is  too  small  to  become  the  home  of  a 
great  people.  Only  great  people  will  divide  the  glory  of 
the  coming  centuries  betwreen  them.  The  tendency  of 
absorbing  small  principalities  is  too  patent  to  be  mistaken. 
Ideally,  we  could  be  a  secluded  nation  of  teachers  and 
peasants;  but,  practically,  no  one  will  be  content  with 
such  modest  glory.  We  have  not  been  in  the  world  for 
two  thousand  years,  our  genius  changed  into  that  of  the 
most  cosmopolitan  people  on  earth,  to  be  reconverted  into 
a  petty  people,  protected,  tolerated,  cared  for  by  great 


26 

sovereign  nations.  Are  -we,  now  free  men,  to  return  to  a 
little  country,  to  become  vassals  of  the  Turk  or  to  those 
who  ere  long  may  substitute  him  in  the  Orient?  Suppos- 
ing1 we  were  free  and  independent,  could  we,  a  petty  nation, 
compete  with  the  great  industrial  nations  of  the  earth? 
Look  at  the  geographical  location  of  Palestine.  Is  it  not 
out  of  the  way?  What  waterways  does  it  possess,  has  it 
ever  possessed,  to  favor  the  development  of  commerce? 
Was  it  not  always  intermediate  between  commercial  centres 
lying  in  every  direction?  What  facilities  has  it  for  the 
founding  of  great  industries?  What  facilities  for  compet- 
ing with  the  great  depots  of  the  European  and  transatlantic 
countries?  If  these  questions  are  asked,  friend,  the  follies 
of  Zionism  become  at  once  apparent.  To  imagine  the  free 
Jewish  citizens  of  America  or  England  incorporated  into  a 
system  that  will  crush  all  the  ambition  out  of  them  is  to 
imagine  the  impossible.  But — the  Zinonists  half  suspect 
that  such  questions  mjight  be  propounded.  Then — then 
they  propose  Uganda  and  even  Manchuria  to  give  sanc- 
tion to  their  dream  of  a  Jewish  state.  A  Jewish  state  any- 
where but  in  Palestine?  That  is  the  rankest  heresy  of 
which  Zionism  has  been  guilty.  More  anon. 

IV. 

In  the  foregoing  paragraphs  we  have  considered  Zion- 
ism from  its  earliest  and  still  more  prominent  phrase,  the 
political,  looking  at  Palestine  as  the  prospective  home  for 
a  rehabilitated  Jewish  nation.  My  conclusions  were,  first, 
the  impossibility  of  denationalizing  our  people  after  the 
processes  of  hundreds  of  years  had  made  them  homo- 
geneous elements  in  the  nations  of  Europe  and  America; 
secondly,  the  unfitness  of  Palestine  to  become  the  home 
of  a  nation  inbued  with  the  energies  that  characterize 
the  progressive  people  of  the  present.  I  believe  political 
Zionism,  from  its  Palestine  aspect,  to  teach  an  entirely 
fallacious  doctrine  regarding  the  ultimate  destiny  of  our 
people.  But  even  political  Zionism  has  already  its  modi- 
fications, witness  the  resolution  of  the  recent  Basle  Con- 
gress to  inaugurate  a  movement  looking  to  the  settlement 


27 

of  Jews  in  Uganda.  Witness  also  Mr.  Lucien  Wolf's 
suggestion  to  M.  de  Plehve,  the  removal  of  the  Russian 
Jews  to  Manchuria.  Really,  if  the  whole  matter  were 
not  serious,  we  might  experience  some  amusement  at 
these  expressions  of  total  helplessness.  I  am  no  fanatic, 
otherwise  I  might  say  that  these  propositions  betray  a 
lack  of  human  feeling  unheard  of  in  men  who  desire  to 
jx)se  as  philanthropists.  Uganda!  Manchuria!  It  may 
interest  you  to  know  that  the  latest  theory  regarding  the 
origin  of  the  Semites  gives  Africa  as  their  original  home, 
not  far  from  the  country  to  which  it  is  contemplated  to 
send  them.  Uganda  is  to  the  southwest  of  Somaliland, 
the  home  of  wild  tribes  of  mixed  Semitic  and  Negro 
blood,  who  are  even  now  engaged  in  the  bloodiest  war- 
fare with  the  English  columns  who  seek  to  maintain  the 
empire's  supremacy.  Strange,  how  our  friends  of  the 
Zionist  persuasion  play  into  the  hands  of  the  anti-Semites 
by  maintaining  that  the  Jew  must  finally  withdraw  from 
his  wonted  habitat.  Stewart  Houston  Chamberlain  goes 
even  far  enough  to  admit  that  the  civilized  world  is  Semit- 
ized,  and  that  only  the  complete  withdrawal  of  the  Jew 
can  cleanse  the  Aryan  races  from  influences  which  have 
prevented  the  full  scope  of  their  genius  to  develop.  If 
the  Aryomaniac  finds  a  confirmation  for  his  speculations 
in  the  adnlission  of  the  Zionists,  is  he  not  to  be  congratu- 
lated? This  Uganda  proposition  strikes  me  as  one  of  the 
queerest  beggings  of  a  main  question  I  have  ever  encoun- 
tered. I  at  least  understand  the  Palestine  proposition. 
It  expresses  the  cravings  of  the  people  without  a  country 
for  the  home  of  its  ancestors.  Even  if  we  must  admit 
that  Palestine  does  not  answer  to  the  demands  set  before 
a  people  clothed  with  the  attributes  of  modern  times,  we 
can  at  least  appreciate  its  selection  because  it  is  the  center 
of  all  Jewish  ideality.  But  Uganda?  Manchura?  One, 
despite  its  fertility,  surrounded  by  savages,  premising  a 
warfare  for  occupation  not  unlike  that  of  the  men  who 
with  Pretorius  penetrated  the  country  of  the  Transvaal, 
with  the  revelation  that  the  Boers  were  accustomed  to 
such  warfare,  whilst  the  Jewish  colonists  must  depend 


28 

upon  the  armed  protection  of  a  foreign  nation.  The 
other,  Russia's  conquered  province  in  the  heart  of  Asia, 
where  the  Jew  would  still  remain  subject  to  the  atrocious 
arbitrariness  of  a  government  that  is  and  has  been  its 
bitterest  foe.  What  do  we  really  want  for  the  persecuted 
Jew — only  a  chance  to  escape?  Only  a  place  to  hide  his 
head?  What  we  want  most  for  him  is  freedom;  not  that 
supine  freedom  that  is  akin  to  protected  slavery;  not  the 
favor  of  nations,  which  at  best  is  an  uncertain  quantity. 
We  want  that  freedom  that  is  rooted  in  independence  and 
equality;  that  promotes  self-government  and  develops  the 
energies  of  a  people — can  such  freedom  be  obtained  either 

in  Uganda  or  Manchuria? 

*     *     * 

At  this  point  it  occurs  to  me  that  our  friends  the  Zion- 
ists may  charge  me  with  begging  the  question.  I  find 
fault  with  anything  they  propose.  I  look  upon  their 
schemes  as  impossible,  as  quixotic  in  the  extreme,  as 
opposed  to  the  political  and  economic  facts  of  the  present 
time.  They  would  have  a  right  to  ask  me,  as  they  have 
asked  already:  Can  you  offer  anything  more  practical? 
Can  you  tell  us  how  to  dispose  of  the  grave  problem  that 
environ  our  persecuted  coreligionists?  My  answer  is« 
promptly,  that  my  dissent  from  their  plans  does  not 
necessarily  mean  that  I  must  propose  another.  In  fact, 
as  I  have  already  stated,  I  believe  plan  making  to  be  a 
foolish  enterprise.  The  future  must  and  will  develop  it- 
self. But,  in  answering  in  detail,  a  few  facts  are  at  my 
command  which  may  be  set  down  in  their  proper  place. 
I  believe  the  removal  of  the  Jews  of  Europe  from  their 
native  base  to  be  an  economic  impossiblity.  Leon  Errera 
has  already  shown  conclusively  that  from  an  economic 
point  of  view  such  an  enterprise  is  ridiculous.  There  are 
not  ships  enough,  nor  is  there  money  enough  in  the  world 
to  encompass  so  gigantic  an  undertaking.  The  collective 
Jews  of  the  world  have  not  means  enough,  to  defray  the 
expenses  of  the  settlement  of  such  a  multitude.  But,  say 
they,  this  is  simply  ridiculous.  No  one,  except  a  hare- 
brained fool,  thinks  of  uprooting  millions  at  one  time. 


29 

The  plan  is  to  remove  them  by  degrees,  to  locate  them 
elsewhere  by  degrees.  Cleverly  designed,  provided 
the  Colonial  Bank  will  stand  the  brunt  of  it ;  but  the  grad- 
ual removal  of  the  Jewish  people  from  their  present  bases 
solves  not  a  single  question  under  present  consideration. 
There  are  at  the  present  time  at  least  a  million  Russian 
Jews  in  the  United  States,  not  to  mention  those  of  other 
countries,  and  yet  the  Jewish  population  of  to-day  is 
much  larger  than  it  was  a  decade  ago.  The  ratio  of  in- 
crease by  births  is  much  greater  than  that  of  death  or  re- 
moval, so  that  whilst  those  who  depart  are  confronted 
with  the  grave  problem  of  settlement,  the  problems  of 
those  remaining  are  in  no  degree  whatever  solved.  Is 
there  then  no  way  out?  Of  coure  there  is  a  way,  but 
unhappily  the  eyes  of  our  people  are  blinded,  and  their 
ears  defeaned  with  the  outcry  of  the  sufferers.  I  com- 
plain on  the  one  hand  of  the  selfish  egotists  w*ho  desire 
this  unfortunate  people  to  become  exiles  for  the  sake  of 
saving  their  skins,  and  on  the  other  hand  of  the  want  of 
courage  and  perseverance  that  characterizes  the  whole 
movement.  It  may  be  charged  against  me  that  it  is  all 
well  enough  for  me  to  preach,  living  in  a  free  land,  in  the 
midst  of  free  people,  a  stranger  to  the  experiences  that 
cruise  the  unhapny  Jew  to  curse  the  day  on  which  he  was 
born,  or  the  night  on  which  it  was  said  he  saw  the  light. 
That  is  true.  I  am  a  stranger  to  these  experiences,  but 
I  will  not  have  it  said  that  I  do  not  understand  them, 
even  if  it  is  my  opinion  that  the  salvation  of  the  Russian 
lew  must  come  from  Russia  itself.  I  know  how  difficult 
it  is  to  accept  so  inconclusive  a  proposition,  that  is,  incon- 
clusive on  the  surface  only.  Does  any  one  assume  that 
the  political  conditions  of  Russia  or  Roumania  will  never 
change?  We  know  something  of  the  political  chances 
that  come  with  the  times.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  it  is  only 
since  half  a  century  that  the  English  Jew  became  the 
equal  of  his  countrymen?  It  is  not  a  fact  that  the  French 
Jew  before  1789  was  no  political  quantity  whatever?  Is 
not  the  present  condition  of  the  Jew  in  all  civilized  coun- 
tries but  the  first  century  of  the  modern  life?  Why  must 


30 

we  assume  that  Russia  will  always  remain  what  it  is,  and 
never  emanate  from  her  autocratic  conditions?  In  fact, 
we  know  to  the  contrary.  We  know  that  Russia  stands 
on  the  edge  of  a  volcano.  Her  people  are,  on  the  whole, 
ready  for  the  social  changes  that  come  with  progressive 
life.  The  intelligent  elements  of  the  Russian  people  are 
fully  prepared  for  social  and  political  changes.  It  looks 
and  it  sounds  heartless,  I  fear,  and  our  friends  the  Zion- 
ists will  most  cheerfully  denounce  the  writer  as  a  wretch 
whose  want  of  sympathy  is  apparent  in  his  opinions,  but 
I  will  have  to  stand  that  as  I  have  stood  it  before.  The 
Russian  Jew  must  take  his  chances  with  the  Russian  peo- 
ples. His  salvation  must  come  out  of  Russia.  I  am  led 
to  this  conslusion  because  it  is  the  experience  of  the 
world,  and  no  experience  based  upon  the  legitimate  pro- 
gression of  events  can  be  changed  by  sentiment.  The 
salvation  of  our  brethren  in  Russia — I  refer  to  that  coun- 
try as  the  most  prominent  instance  under  discussion — 
depends  upon  their  emancipation.  It  will  be  asserted 
that  Russia  will  not  emancipate  them,  but  is  that  a  dec- 
laration of  a  permanent  and  immutable  attitude  on  the 
part  of  that  country?  Political  government  and  its  meth- 
ods are  neither  permanent  nor  immutable.  I  maintain, 
not  merely  as  the  result  of  my  own  opinion,  but  upon  the 
authority  of  leading  economists  who  have  studied  this 
Russian-Jewish  question,  that  the  expatriation  of  five 
millions  of  people  is  an  impossibility.  It  is  impossible  as 
to  wholesale  expatriation,  for  the  world  has  neither  ships 
nor  money  enough  to  accomplish  so  gigantic  a  project. 
It  is  impossible  as  a  systematic  and  gradual  enterprise, 
for  the  percentage  of  births  in  Russia  will  more  than  com- 
pensate for  the  percentage  of  departure,  from  which  it  re- 
sults that  as  to  the  Russian  Jew  at  home  not  a  single 
problem  will  be  solved.  The  bulk  of  Russian  Jews  must 
remain  in  Russia  and  there  work  out  tHeir  salvation.  It 
is  their  country, — they  have  lived  as  long  upon  its  soil  as 
their  fathers  did  in  the  land  of  Palestine.  The  problems 
that  at  the  present  time  surround  their  political  existence 
are  solvable  only  in  the  political  future  of  Russia  itself. 


Was  there  no  Irish  question  equally  as  important  as  the 
Jewish  question?  What  was  the  state  of  opinion  in  Eng- 
land before  the  passage  of  the  Catholic  Emancipation  Act 
in  1832?  We  of  the  present  generation  have  forgotten 
that  Gladstone  made  England  ashamed  of  itself,  and  that, 
even  though  Ireland  grumbles  even  now,  the  political 
condition  of  the  Irish  people  is  immeasurably  superior  to 
what  it  was  a  half  century  ago.  I  say  we  ought  not  to 
assume  that  there  is  no  future  for  the  Russian  Jew  in 
Russia.  Have  we  German,  French,  English,  Austrian 
Jews,  have  we  not  passed  through  the  same  experience 
politically?  Were  we  not  emancipated?  Was  our  eman- 
cipation not  the  result  of  the  pressure  of  a  public  opinion 
that  stands  out  in  magnificent  emphasis  against  all  dis- 
crimination even  though  it  cannot,  and  perhaps  will  not, 
alienate  itself  from  social  and  religious  prejudices?  Wise 
Russian  statesmen  like  Demidoff  de  San  Donato,  illuminated 
sa^es  like  Tolstoi  himself,  see  but  one  solution  of 
the  Jewish  question — emancipation.  The  Russian  Gov- 
ernment has  in  its  bureaux  reports  from  one  commission 
after  the  other  recommending  the  enfranchisement  of  the 
Jews.  The  government  is  conscious,  must  be  conscious, 
that  it  can  neither  expel  nor  exterminate  five  millions  of 
people.  Its  present  attitude  is  the  expression  of  an  effort 
to  maintain  a  status  quo  which  has  become  odious  to  mil- 
lions of  Russians  besides  the  Jew.  Let  us  learn  from 
history.  We  know  that  whilst  revolutions  spring  up  in 
a  night,  they  are  resulting  from  the  slow  causation  of  the 
centuries.  As  soon  as  a  nation  has  an  opinion  it  will 
assert  it.  An  opinion  is  the  expression  of  a  national  con- 
sciousness, an  utterance  of  a  national  judgment  upon  its 
government,  its  fitness  or  unfitness.  England  decapitat- 
ing her  king,  means  England  expressing  an  opinion  and 
a  judgment  regarding  the  people's  attitude  toward  gov- 
ernment. France,  crazed  with  freedom  and  bloodthirsty, 
is  after  all  France  waking  up  to  an  opinion  that  its  gov- 
ernment was  a  foul  perversion  of  popular  rights  and  an 
expression  of  a  popular  will.  We  know  that  Russia  has 
no  opinion.  The  national  consciousness  is  cudgeled  into 


32 

torpid  inactivity  by  the  church  and  the  censor's  office, 
the  police  and  the  army.  But  Russia,  more  than  a  cen- 
tury behind  the  times,  does  not  mean  Russia  forever  be- 
hind the  times.  We  would  have  to  assume  that  the  Rus- 
sian universities,  the  great  medical  schools,  the  wonder- 
ful libraries,  the  gymnasia,  the  institutes  for  elementary 
instruction,  the  trade  schools — we  would  have  to  assume 
that  the  great  Russian  system  of  education  will  be  forever 
noting  but  an  instrument  of  slavery,  when  we  know  to 
the  contrary.  Education  frees  a  people.  If  M.  Pobediost- 
neff  desires  Russia  to  remain  forever  under  the  domirr 
ancy  of  an  autocrat,  he  must  abolish  the  three  R's. 
People  who  learn  to  begin  to  think,  and  people  who  think 
•will  create  a  revolution  against  all  the  political  injuries 
of  the  ages.  What  autocratic  government  can  persist  in 
civilized  countries  ?  None,  none  whatever.  The  Russian 
people  will  revolt.  The  most  malign  processes  of  subjec- 
tion will  be  invoked  against  them.  Their  strong  men 
will  suffer.  The  prison  and  the  copper  mines,  the  lash 
and  the  chain,  every  badge  of  degration  will  be  fastened 
upon  them,  but  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  will  drench  the 
soil  from  which  will  spring  the  flowers  of  freedom.  All" 
these  things  must  come  to  pass.  And  when  they  come  to 
pass  the  Jews  of  Russia,  the  native  Russian  Jew,  will  cast 
his  lot  with  the  champions  of  freedom.  He  suffers  keenly ; 
so  does  the  Finn.  In  the  excess  of  our  sympathy  we  are 
apt  to  forget  that  Russia  is  as  cruel  to  others  of  her  chil- 
dren as  to  the  Jew.  The  Finn  suffers  the  most  unheard- 
of  torture.  A  free  and  intelligent  people,  its  privileges 
protected  since  centuries,  finds  itself  by  a  stroke  of  the 
pen  robbed  of  its  charter,  and  Finland  suffers  to-day  what 
Judea  suffered  in  the  days  of  Antiochus  IV.  I  decline  to 
believe  that  such  oppression  endures  forever;  I  refuse  to 
admit  that  our  dfforts  to  solve  the  Jewish  question  in 
Russia  must  exclude  the  possibility  of  the  great,  glorious 
ultimate  self-assertion  of  the  Russian  people,  its  repudia- 
tion of  the  autocratic  government  and  its  declaration  of 
freedom,  self-government  and  self-independence.  If  it  be 
advised  that,  in  the  face  of  all  the  horrors  of  the  period. 


33 

the  Russian  Jew  must  wait  and  work  and  watch  and 
suffer — is  not  that  the  experience  of  all  our  forbears? 
Are  we  not  mere  youths  in  freedom?  Have  we  not  all 
been  slaves  and  victims  until  a  century  ago?  Why  refuse 
to  believe  that  Messiah,  though  he  tarries,  will  assuredly 
come — why  refuse  to  believe  that  the  vindication  of  the 
Russian  Jew  will  come  from  Russia? 


V. 

We  have  advanced  far  enough  to  review  our  premises 
and  ascertain  to  what  extent  we  have  maintained  our 
care.  Our  conclusions  thus  far  are  as  follows : 

i — Zionism,  from  its  political  aspect,  maintains  the  inr 
possible  doctrine  that  the  Jew  cannot  become  domesti- 
cated in  the  countries  where  his  destiny  has  placed  him. 

2 — Zionism,  again  from  its  political  aspect,  looks  for  the 
rehabitation  of  the  Jewish  State,  some  time,  some  where, 
as  a  solution  to  the  vexatious  problems  that  environ  the 
Jew  of  modern  times. 

3 — In  preferring  Palestine  to  any  other  country,  Zionism 
responds  in  some  degree  to  older  phases  of  Jewish  idealism, 
but  defeats  itself  by  conditioning  the  independence  of  the 
Jewish  State. 

4 — In  admitting  the  necessity  of  placing  the  proposed 
commonwealth  under  the  protection  of  the  Powers,  Zion- 
ism practically  admits  the  incomptency  of  the  proposed  gov- 
ernment to  maintain  itself  in  competition  with  other  powers. 

5 — Zionism,  in  formulating  the  programme  for  the  for- 
mation of  the  new  state,  violates  all  precedent  natural  sug- 
gestions incorporated  in  the  history  of  the  genesis  and 
growth  of  nations. 

6 — Zionism,  in  its  later  aspects,  weakening  as  regards  its 
convictions  on  the  subject  of  the  political  future  of  Pales- 
tine, turns  its  attention  to  remote  provinces  as  suitable 
homes  for  oppressed  Jews,  in  violation  of  both  economic 
law  and  humanity. 

7. — Zionism,  from  its  intellectual  and  spiritual  aspects, 
looks  to  the  development  of  a  distinct  Jewish  consciousness, 


34 

and  an  organized  capacity  to  grapple  -with  Jewish  problems 
as  in  the  course  of  time  one  after  the  other  will  be  de~ 
veloped. 

As  regards  the  last  propostion,  I  feel  myself  to  be  a 
thorough  Zionist.  But  another  word  is  still  required  to 
punctuate  the  bubbles  of  Uganda  and  Manchuria.  There 
are  ways  of  getting  rid  of  a  problem,  and  this  seems  to  be 
one  of  them.  Assuredly,  despite  my  belief  that  the  salva- 
tion of  the  Russian  Jew  must  come  from  Russia,  and  the 
salvation  of  the  Roumanian  Jew  from  Roumania,  I  must 
not  be  understood  as  unsympathetic  towards  any  migra- 
tory effort,  or  towards  any  competent  enterprise  to  remove 
as  many  of  our  brethren  as  possible  from  their  deplorable 
environments.  In  fact,  the  removal  of  large  numbers  of 
our  people  from  the  edge  of  the  Orient  and  their  ultimate 
prosperity  in  other  lands  can  but  contribute  to  the  happi- 
ness of  those  remaining.  That  has  always  been  the  ex- 
perience of  Israel.  Leaving  older  chapters  of  immigration 
out  of  consideration,  it  is  only  necessary  to  point  to  the 
growth  of  the  Jewish  communities  in  England  and  America 
during  the  past  half  century  and  the  economic  effect  that 
growth  has  exercised  upon  the  remaining  families  in  Ger~ 
many,  Poland,  Russia  and  other  countries.  At  least  a  de- 
gree of  the  grinding  poverty  of  the  home  folk  is  removed 
by  the  prosperity  of  the  emigrants,  who,  in  addition,  have 
built  up  permanent  interests  in  the  new  countries, 
interests  which,  however  remotely,  are  being  shared 
with  the  others.  The  emigration  of  thousands  and 
tens  o<f  Russian  Jews  \vill  t>e  of  substantial  and  material 
benefit  to  the  people  at  home,  compelled  to  await  the  trumpet 
sounds  of  liberty  in  coming  years — provided  they  go  where 
their  opportunities  will  be  unhindered  and  their  energies 
developed.  But  can  so  great  an  enterprise  be  achieved  in 
the  remote  districts  our  sympathetic  bethren  have  selected? 
In  order  to  answer  that  question  we  must  review  the  con- 
ditions which  are  anticipated  for  pioneers  of  a  new  com- 
monwealth. I  take  it  that  however  much  they  will  be  com- 
pelled to  labor  in  the  sweat  of  their  brow,  however  great 
will  be  the  obstacles  to  surmount  or  the  difficulties  to  con" 


35 

front,  there  must  be  conditions,  political  and  moral,  en- 
tirely opposite  from  the  conditions  which  justified  the  agita- 
tion of  the  present  time.  They  must  not  be  harassed  nor 
persecuted;  they  must  be  subjects  of  a  benign  government 
or  protected  by  a  Power  that  rejoices  in  the  attributes  of 
justice  and  reason;  they  must  be  free,  capable  of  developing 
their  own  economic  conditions  according  to  the  activities 
their  own  energies  can  create.  And  it  is  believed  that  such  a 
free,  active,  energetic  community,  unhampered,  and  free 
from  harassment,  can  thrive  in  Uganda  and  Manchuria.  I 
shall  not  discuss  the  latter;  it  was  but  an  unauthorized  sug- 
gestion of  Mr.  Lucien  Wolf,  approved  by  M.  de  Plehve, 
who  would  be  proud  of  his  achievement  to  encompass 
the  depletion  of  European  Russia.  Manchuria  is  a  very 
fertile  country,  and  doubtless  Russian  enterprise  would  only 
be  too  glad  to  avail  itself  of  the  thrift  of  the  Jew,  and  the 
Russian  nobility  would  only  be  too  happy  to  draw  from 
their  newly-alloted  estates  in  Manchuria  the  wealth  where- 
with to  continue  their  orgies  in  European  capitals!  One 
of  the  baleful  curses  of  the  Deuteronomist  is:  "The  fruit 
of  thy  land  and  all  thy  produce  shall  be  eaten  by  a  people 
whom  thou  knowst  not" — is  this  the  blessing  this  English 
Jew  has  to  bestow  upon  his  persecuted  brethren?  As  to 
Uganda.  It  is  far  enough,  God  knows.  I  fancy  there  will 
be  few  of  our  brethren  to  venture  upon  the  enterprise  of. 
settling  it  even  under  British  protection.  It  is  in  Central 
Africa,  resting  against  Lake  Victoria,  Nyanza  in  the  very 
heart  of  the  equatorial  region.  It  is  the  southwestern  ex~ 
tension  of  Somaliland,  the  country  inhabited  by  Afro-Semi- 
tic Negroes  of  the  most  robust  type.  It  is  fertile,  but  moun- 
tainous only  on  the  lake  side ;  beyond,  towards  the  northeast 
are  immense  plains,  undulating,  and  mostly  of  volcanic  or- 
igin. It  has  five  millions  of  Negroes,  untaught,  uncivilized, 
unaccustomed  to  the  ways  of  civilization,  their  law  and 
government  of  the  most  primitive  character.  And  this  is  to 
be  the  future  home  of  the  Russian  and  Roumanian  Jew,  and 
this  is  to  be  the  delivery  of  pregnant  Zionism,  the  putting 
away  of  men  who  seek  for  freedom,  for  rest  and  peace,  in  a 
country  remote  from  civilization,  their  neighbors  to  be  tin- 


36 

tutored  Negroes,  their  existence  endangered  by  the  Somali 
robbers  or  by  the  wild  beasts  that  abound  in  the  forests !  I 
do  not  say  that  to  conquer  such  a  land  is  an  impossibility, 
but  we  would  have  to  admit  that  the  Jewsish  pioneer  is 
capable  of  suffering  all  the  hardships  connected  with  so 
glorious  an  undertaking,  Is  it  the  intention  of  testing  the 
pioneer  courage  of  Israel?  No  doubt  we  have  men  and 
women  -who  would  be  willing  to  undertake  the  journey. 
But  have  we  then  been  so  successful  in  other  directions  that 
we  can  trust  our  people  to  conquer  one  of  the  wildest  dis~ 
tricts  in  the  heart  of  equatorial  Africa?  Perhaps  the  in" 
tention  is  to  prepare  the  way  for  them,  to  send  out  an  army 
of  engineers  and  surveyors,  carpenters  and  builders,  who 
will  put  everything  in  shipshape  for  the  intending  settlers. 
That  would  be  very  interesting,  but  also  very  foolish.  Not 
in  this  wise  has  civilization  achieved  its  great  empires. 
New  communities  are  founded  by  the  pioneer  spirit  itself; 
and  we  in  America  know  that  full  well,  for  our  fathers  were 
amongst  the  builders  of  the  new  commonwealths.  Can  you 
trust  a  poor,  unhappy,  downtrodden  people  without  any 
preparation  to  enter  upon  so  perilous  an  undertaking  as 
founding  a  civilized  community  in  the  heart  of  Africa  ?  It 
sounds  ideal  and  it  conjures  up  glorious  vistas  of  possi- 
bility, but  in  the  whole  discussion  of  the  realities  I  am 
just  a  little  bit  ashamed  of  these  enthusiastic  Zionists.  If 
I  do  them  injustice  may  I  be  forgiven,  but  the  suggestion 
looks  to  me,  either  as  a  shrewd  device  to  be  deemed  con- 
stantly active,  constantly  engaged  in  solving  the  problems^ 
or  a  cowardly  confession  that  the  Russian  Jew,  out  of 
Russia,  must  be  put  out  of  the  way  as  far  as  possible.  Now 
I,  an  anti-Zionist,  believe  that  there  are  only  two  countries 
on  earth  to  which  we  should  encourage  our  people  to  go, 
to  which  we  should  bring  them,  compatible  with  the  immi- 
gration laws  of  those  countries.  I  exclude  England,  because 
the  "tight  little  isle"  is  overcrowded,  which  fact  is  at- 
tested by  her  noble  position  as  the  mother  of  many  colonies. 
But  there  is  Canada  and  there  is  the  United  States,  the  two 
largest,  the  two  freest  countries  on  earth.  Tell  me 
what  singular  lack  of  moral  courage  has  induced  the 


37 

Zionists  to  prefer  the  heart  of  Africa  to  the  mag- 
nificent praries  and  \alleys  of  Canada,  to  the  wheat- 
growing  plains  of  the  northwest  of  our  own  country? 
We  anti-Zionists  have  at  least  the  merit  that  we 
shirk  no  responsibility  that  comes  to  us.  If  any  one  be- 
lieves that  the  immigrant  Jew  has  not  created  any  problem 
for  us  let  him  visit  New  York,  Philadelphia  or  Chicago; 
Mnd  yet  in  the  face  of  our  increasing  difficulties  and  re- 
sponsibilities we  dare  say  that  the  Uganda  proposition  is 
heartless,  unbecoming,  un-Jewish.  It  is  a  shifting  of  the 
problem  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  government  that  exer- 
cises its  protectorate  over  that  far-off  country.  Now  look 
at  Canada.  I  have  traveled  it  from  west  to  east;  from 
Victoria  to  Quebec  and  beyond,  into  the  beautiful  wilds  of 
the  Saginay  river.  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  believe  that 
in  that  wonderful  country,  the  home  of  but  five  millions, 
the  possible  home  of  least  a  hundred  millions,  there  can  be 
made  no  room  for  a  million  Jews  or  more,  living  under  the 
government  of  Canada,  one  of  the  freest  and  best  on  earth. 
\\'e  should  invite  Dr.  Herzl  to  take  a  trip  with  us  over  the 
Canadian  Pacific.  I  have  travelled  for  three  days  from 
Coolgarie  at  the  base  of  the  Rockies,  to  beyond  Winnepeg, 
through  a  country  amazingly  fertile,  well  watered,  well 
stocked,  a  country  of  immense  distances,  reaching  for  hun- 
dreds of  miles  to  the  north  and  south,  for  thousands  to  the 
east  and  west,  a  country  seemingly  made  by  Providence  to  be 
the  home  of  a  great  nation,  a  country  so  rich  that  the  farmers 
of  Iowa  and  Nebraska  are  selling  their  homesteads  to  repair 
thither,  a  country  capable  of  becoming  the  wheat  market 
of  the  world — why  may  not  the  Jew  dwell  there  and  pros- 
per? Why  must  the  Russian  Jew  elbow  with  the  Negro* 
when  wide  areas  in  the  midst  of  civilization  are  without 
an  inhabitant?  Why  must  the  Jew  perish  beneath  the 
scorching  rays  of  the  equatorial  sun,  when  whole  provinces 
in  the  thermal  belt  are  awaiting  the  touch  of  strong  willing 
hands  to  spring  into  the  full  maturity  of  their  productive 
splendor?  The  possibilities  of  that  wounderful  country 
are  beyond  description.  Nature  is  benign  and  kind ;  the 
land  knows  the  rigor  of  winter  for  but  a  short  season  and 


38 

it  is  rarely  afflicted  with  scorching  heat.  In  its  depths, 
along  the  lines-  of  travel,  hundreds  of  thousands  may  dis- 
appear without  perceptibly  filling  the  country.  Unless  that 
blessed  land,  together  with  the  vast  areas  of  our  north- 
western states,  are  made  accessible  to  our  people,  organized 
into  communities  whose  self-government  will  be  of  a  more 
pronounced  character  than  it  ever  could  be  in  Palestine,  I 
see  no  way  of  helping  our  people.  For  years  past  that  has 
seemed  to  me  the  only  way.  We  must  find  the  courage  to 
demand  of  England  and  America  that  the  cradles  of  liberty 
may  rock  the  Jew  as  well  as  the  Gentile.  But  to  make  such 
a  demand  we  need  several  attributes  we  do  not  at  the  pres- 
ent moment  possess.  We  suffer  at  the  present  time  from  the 
diffusion  of  energy.  We  are  split  up  in  factions  and  geo- 
graphical groups,  in  classes  and  religious  denominations 
bordering  on  schismatic  rupture.  We  have  an  East  and  a 
West,  an  orthodox  and  reform  party,  a  Zionist  and  anti- 
Zionist  group;  and  above  all,  we  suffer  from  the  insolence 
of  the  petty  .politicians  who  prostitute  the  most  sacred  in- 
terests of  Jews  and  Judaism  to  foster  their  chances  of  eat- 
ing from  the  public-crib.  But  if  we  could  be  united,  we  o-f 
England  and  America  and  the  other  free  countries,  if  we 
could  enter  an  international  congress  permeated  with  the 
spirit  of  helpfulness,  unanimous  in  the  desire  to  meet  the 
exigencies  of  the  present,  backed  by  the  financial  strength  of 
our  people,  what  wonderful  strength  could  we  develop! 
But  the  Zionist  says  his  order  did  seek  to  accomplish  this 
end.  Yes,  it  sought  to  unite  Israel  in  the  interest  of  the 
suffering,  none  shall  or  must  deny  it ;  but  its  platform  is 
unhealthy;  it  looked  for  no  sane  and  rational  measures  of 
relief,  for  no  logical  solution  to  the  problems.  The  salva- 
tion of  the  Jew  is  in  the  country  where  he  lives ;  for  those 
who  at  the  present  time  desire  to  withdraw7  we  must  have 
a  home,  but  not  Palestine  the  unhappy,  the  Turk-ridden ; 
not  Manchuria,  cursed  with  the  inundation  of  Cossack 
regiments;  not  Uganda,  the  land  of  the  Negro, — but  our 
own  home,  our  own  country,  our  own  free  institutions, 
where  we  can  create  the  energies  that  shall  bless  the  people 
beyond  the  seas.  Ah,  how  gladly  would  I  give  my  remaining 


39 

years  to  serve  a  cause  so  nobly  understood,  so  bravely  furth- 
ered. We  need  another  organization.  We  can  dispense  with 
Zionism  and  its  hysterics.  We  need  an  organization  of 
English  and  American  business  men  who  will  face  their  re- 
sponsibility with  the  courage  of  free  men,  who  will  not  lack 
the  moral  courage  to  acknowledge  their  obligation  towards 
the  oppressed  and  persecuted,  who  will  not  study  this  awful 
question  with  a  mental  reservation  that  the  poor  Jew  must 
be  put  anywhere  except  where  he  can  be  free  and  within  the 
reach  of  the  examples  that  shall  influence  his  career.  Would 
not  this  be  better  than  Basle  with  its  enthusiasm,  which  re- 
solves itself  into  impossibilities?  And  now  for  the  closing 

suggestion. 

*  *     * 

VI. 

I  believe  I  have  stated  my  position  regarding  the  prob- 
lems that  affect  our  people  with  sufficient  distinctness  to 
justify  my  conclusion  with  Zionism,  because  of  its  utter 
impracticability,  will  amount  to  nothing  more  than  a  brief 
chapter  in  the  history  of  its  own  time.  Ideal  as  well  as 
theoretical,  it  lacks  the  basis  upon  which  practical  busi- 
ness men  would  rear  their  superstructure,  and  therefore  it 
will  disintegrate  and  fade  from  the  memory  of  those  who 
even  now  are  enthusiastically  supporting  it.  But  Zionism 
will  not  pass  a\vay  without  leaving  some  helpful  suggestions 
for  the  future.  If  these  suggestions  will  be  adopted  by  an- 
other and  stronger  organization  that  does  not  seek  to  avoid 
the  practical  issues  intimately  associated  with  the  Jewish 
problem,  the  time  will  come  when  answers  to  questions  af- 
fecting the  future  of  the  Jew  will  not  be  as  vague  and  in- 
determinate as  they  are  to-day. 

*  *     * 

Fundamentlly,  the  great  need  of  our  people  is  organiza- 
tion. But  organization  for  what  purpose?  If  that  ques- 
tion be  answered  from  the  political  point  of  view,  we  in- 
voke all  the  dangers  to  which  Zionism,  wittingly  or  un- 
\\ittingly,  has  exposed  us.  An  organization  for  the  re- 
nationalization  of  the  Jew  carries  within  itself  the  poten- 
tiality of  estranging  him  from  the  country  of  his  nativity. 


40 

Whilst  on  the  one  hand  anti-Semitism  professes  to  believe 
that  the  Jew  is  not  and  can  not  be  domesticated,  on  the 
other  hand  those  self-same  enemies  of  our  people  will 
point  to  a  political  or  semi-political  Jewish  organization 
as  an  evidence  that  there  must  always  be  a.  grain  of  mem- 
tal  reservation  in  Jewish  patriotism.  Again,  the  admis- 
sion of  Zionism  that  the  people  of  Israel  have  finally  be- 
come convinced  that  their  sole  refuge  from  further  oppres- 
sion is  a  return  to  the  Jewish  state  wherever  it  may  be 
founded,  is  in  itself  an  admission  that  the  political  unity 
and  homogeneity  of  the  Jewish  people  can  be  restored.  I 
am  constrained  to  emphatically  deny  the  integrity  of  such 
propositions  for  reasons  already  amply  discussed  in  this 
letter.  But,  let  me  reiterate,  I  do  not  concede  that  the 
collapse  of  Zionism  would  leave  us  helpless  to  treat  many 
questions  affecting  us  at  the  present  time.  Zionism,  in 
fact,  has  taught  us  some  lessons,  and  it  would  be  ungen- 
erous, unfair  and  unjust  to  deny  the  fact.  It  has  paved 
the  way  to  another  movement,  naturally  greater  and 
broader  than  itself,  which  will  vindicate  the  old  doctrine 
that  the  spiritual  unity  of  the  people  of  Israel  can  be 
maintained  in  the  absence  of  any  and  all  elements  of 
sovereignty.  For  the  preservation  of  such  a  unity,  for 
the  assertion  of  a  distinct  Jewish  consciousness,  compat- 
ible with  the  spirit  of  nationality  in  every  country,  for  the 
preservation  of  the  ties  of  fraternity  between  the  Jews  of 
many  lands;  for  the  spiritualization  of  our  people  every- 
where; for  their  education  and  humanization  in  many 
places;  for  developing  an  organized  capacity  for  assist- 
ance where  it  is  needed;  for  the  vindication  of  the  alien- 
able rights  of  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness 
everywhere;  for  the  invocation  of  justice  against  the 
oppressor;  for  the  dissemination  of  teachings  that  will 
tend  to  educate  and  humanize  the  masses  and  inspire 
them  with  a  sense  of  justice  and  a  sentiment  of  peace,— 
for  these  high,  exalted  and  non-political  purposes  we 
need  an  organization  far  stronger  than  any  we  have  to- 
day,— an  organization  that  will,  I  am  persuaded,  com- 
mand the  earnest  consideration  of  even  those  potentates 


whose  oracular  attitude  Dr.  Herzl  seems  to  construe  as  an 
expression  of  sympathy  with  the  political  aims  of  his  own 
associates.  But  I  am  anticipating-  somewhat. 

I  believe  that  the  restoration  of  Palestine  is  utterly  im- 
possible; that  it  is  inconsistent  with  the  aims  that  animate 
the  Jewish  people  at  the  present  time.  I  believe  that  the 
effort  to  enthuse  our  people  on  behalf  of  that  restoration 
is  a  political  and  economic  blunder.  I  believe  the  doc- 
trine of  the  political  restoration  of  the  people  of  Israel  to 
be  misleading,  and,  like  all  adventist  doctrines,  tending  to 
disintegrate  the  strength  needed  by  the  people  to  make 
their  social,  their  civic  and  industrial  existence  as  contented 
as  possible.  Adventism  translated  into  possibilities  ever  be- 
comes a  dangerous  doctrine  if  its  sole  nourishment  is  the 
unbridled  enthusiasm  which  it  provokes.  We  all  under- 
stand its  fascination.  We  all  realize  what  tremendous  in- 
fluence it  exercises  upon  the  persecuted.  But  that  influence 
makes  it  so  much  more  dangerous,  for  the  collapse  of  ad- 
ventist enterprises,  not  entirely  unknown  in  Jewish  history, 
produces  consequences  that  effect  the  intellectual  growth  of 
society  for  centuries.  If  I  state,  at  this  point,  that  the  Jew- 
ish people  even  at  this  late  day  have  not  yet  outlived  the 
consequences  of  the  aberration  of  Zabbathai  Zebi,  I  mention 
a  fact  that  no  student  of  their  internal  conditions  will  be  able 
to  gainsay.  I  am  afraid  that  the  new  Zionism  will  likewise 
produce  a  wave  of  mysticism, — that  child  of  the  disap- 
pointed and  the  unhappy,  that  mother  of  speculation  that 
narrows  the  issues  of  life  to  the  egotistic  demand  for  their 
realization.  And  this,  because  enthusiasm,  that  heaves  peo- 
ple up  to  the  skies,  has  no  pillow  whereon  they  may  fall,  if 
scorched  and  burned,  they  precipitate  to  the  earth  where 
their  hopes  are  crushed  and  their  ambitions  buried.  The 
darkest  period  of  Jewish  history  succeeded  the  mission  of 
the  false  Turkish  messiah ;  might  we  hope  for  a  better  issue 
if  modern  adventism,  that  calls  itself  Zionism,  leaves  our 
people  as  disappointed,  as  humiliated,  as  hungry  for  happi- 
ness and  peace  as  did  that  awful  enterprise  that  involved 
many  of  the  elect  of  Israel,  many  of  its  sages  and  poets,  its 
princes  and  plebians  both  ?  No, — our  history  these  nineteen 


42 

hundred  years  indicates  the  sagacity  of  that  great  inter- 
nationalist, Ben  Zakkai,  who  with  pervision  tantamount 
to  prophetic  insight,  realized  the  potencies  and  possibili- 
ties of  the  people  of  Israel  in  other  but  national  environ* 
ments.  I  stand  upon  the  platform  of  Ben  Zakkai  and  the 
great  doctors  of  the  first  centuries  succeeding  the  Destruc- 
tion— the  education  of  the  people  of  Israel  for  their  true 
position  in  the  midst  of  Gentile  life.  If  in  those  awful 
days  of  reconstruction  the  impression  had  gone  forth  that 
the  Jew  can  not  live  or  succeed  outside  the  boundaries  of 
his  national  life,  what  would  have  become  of  us?  The  key- 
note to  the  activity  of  these  remarkable  internationalists 
is  a  theory  upon  which  they  proceeded  to  mould  the  Jew- 
ish character,  namely,  that  the  individuality  of  the  race, 
the  integrity  of  its  discipline,  and  the  knowledge  of  the 
Thorah  could  be  preserved,  no  matter  where  the  people 
of  Israel  happened  to  be.  That  is  my  theory,  and  I  am 
so  reverent,  so  deeply  conscious  of  the  prophetic  efforts  of 
these  men,  that  I  wish  to  advance  no  other  means  for  the 
maintenance  of  these  great  factors,  except  in  so  far  as 
they  must  be  made  to  apply  to  our  own  times.  Trans- 
lated into  modern  expressions  the  efforts  of  the  inter- 
nationalists tended :  First,  to  develop,  in  foreign  parts, 
the  consciousness  of  the  solidarity  of  the  Jewish  people; 
secondly,  to  inaugurate  a  system  of  education  that  would 
preserve  that  consciousness  of  solidarity;  third,  to  put 
stress  upon  mutual  support,  upon  the  protection  of  the 
unhappy  of  every  characterization,  as  one  of  the  main  ex- 
pressions of  that  solidarity.  I  can  not  deny  the  fact  that 
Zionism,  aside  from  its  vagaries,  has  materially  assisted 
in  recalling  these  great  factors  of  organization  to  our 
mind  and  conscience.  We  have  been  suffering  from  a 
diffusion  of  energy.  In  our  western  homes,  luxuriating 
in  political  freedom,  we  have  become  less  individualistic 
than  we  ought  to  be,  consistent  with  our  duty  as  the  rep" 
-resentatives  of  ideas  distinctly  our  own  inheritance.  We 
have,  in  freedom,  lost  much  of  our  Jewish  consciousness. 
I  shall  not  deny  it.  Every  distinctive  American  Jewish 
problem  owes  its  unfortunate  existence  to  the  fact  that  we 


43 

have  lost  much  of  that  solidarity  that  alone  is  capable  of 
achieving  great  spiritual  results.  In  fact,  I  fear  that  we 
are  too  adverse,  at  the  present  time,  to  a  strong  organiza- 
tion that  shall  develop  and  maintain  a  conviction,  borne 
out  by  conduct  and  discipline,  that  the  exercise  of  duties 
peculiar  to  the  Jew  as  such,  are  not  only  inconsistent 
with  his  citizenship,  but  would  earn  him  the  respect  and 
consideration  of  all  his  fellow-citizens.  We  have  been 
idolizing  Freedom,  and  in  the  idolatrous  worship  our 
senses  have  somewhat  become  benumbed,  and  we  did  not 
see  very  clearly  that  we  never  should  have  lost  the  most 
trifling  fraction  of  a  unity  with  which  alone  we  can  con- 
front the  problems  of  our  day.  Zionism  has  helped  in 
this  direction.  It  has,  at  any  rate,  forced  us  to  look  our 
problems  squarely  in  the  face.  For,  in  its  statement  of 
the  reasons  that  prompted  its  organization  it  has  not  been 
untrue  to  the  facts.  It  is  true  that  the  majority  of  our 
people  are  still  in  the  net  of  the  fowler;  it  is  true  that  in 

their  homes  they  are  aliens. 

*     *     * 

It  is  true  that  they  are  oppressed  and  persecuted.  It  is 
true  that  an  arrogant  race  spirit  manifests  itself  in  perse- 
cution in  Russia;  in  social  and  political  discrimination  in 
Germany ;  in  contemptuous  insults  and  religious  bigotry 
in  Austria  and  Galicia.  Whether  it  is  true  that  our  peo- 
ple in  Russia,  Roumania  and  Galicia  are  really  desiring  a 
new  home  could  only  be  judged  by  their  demand  for 
assisted  expatriation,  but  I  shall  waive  this  last  point.  I 
will  take  it  for  granted  that  the  attitude  of  nations  and  races 
justifies  the  Zionist  propositions  heretofore  stated.  Zion- 
ism lias  at  least  acomplished  some  ends  scarcely  looked 
for  a  decade  ago.  Politically  impossible,  spiritually  it  has 
pointed  the  way  to  the  future.  It  has  literally  ingathered 
the  dispersed  of  Israel.  It  has  awakened  a  sense  of  Jewish 
solidarity  in  the  breast  of  tens  of  thousands,  whom  the 
exigencies  of  the  times  or  their  own  course  of  reasoning,  or 
their  convenience,  had  alienated  from  the  Jewish  cause.  It 
has  aroused  the  conscience  of  intelligent,  progressive  men, 
who  believed  that  Judaism  had  run  its  course;  who  quoted 


44 

Heine  to  prove  that  being  a  Jew  was  a  misfortune;  who  ad- 
vocated amalgamation  with  the  Gentile  world ;  who  thought 
that  the  last  chapter  of  Israel's  story  was  about  to  be 
written.  They  think  differently  now.  Their  conscience 
became  -wide-awake,  they  took  up  the  burden  of  Israel  with 
i  oble  and  determined  repentance;  their  consciousness 
aroused,  they  are  trying  to  convince  the  world  that  in  its 
magnificent  and  conquering  aspirations  Israel  is  not  even 
at  its  zenith  and  has  not  accomplished  its  destiny,  though 
the  world  is  getting  old  and  the  graves  of  nations  are  get- 
ting numerous.  They  do  not  think  now  that  being  a  Jew 
is  a  misfortune;  they  are  resolved  that  supine  submission 
to  the  false  verdicts  of  anti-Semitism  is  a  disgrace  to  the 
Jewish  name,  but  that  perseverance,  persistence,  renewed 
activity  and  vigorous  intellectual  endeavors  will  recall  the 
youth  and  manhood  of  Israel  to  the  fame  of  the  Thorah. 
That  is  a  phrase  of  Zionism  that  I  have  viewed  with  the 
deepest  admiration,  because  it  responds  to  the  convictions 
of  my  own  soul.  What  boots  it  to  preach  nationality  to 
a  people  not  even  aroused  to  a  sense  of  individuality? 
What  achievements  are  to  be  made  upon  the  world's  stage 
by  a  people  bewildered  by  the  scenes  of  modern  activity, 
blinded  by  the  light  of  freedon?  The  first  step  in  the  direc" 
tion  of  writing  the  Jewish  history  of  future  days  is  re-or- 
ganization, re-orientation,  if  I  may  use  an  expressive  Ger- 
manism. Israel  to  become  a  factor  or  to  maintain  itself 
jp.ust  first  know  what  Israel  stands  for.  If  we  can  convince 
these  hard-headed  business  men  of  ours,  or  these  many  cul~ 
tured,  often  frivolous,  women  of  ours,  that  their  nondescript 
attitudes  in  the  social  and  religious  world  are  disgraceful 
from  our  own  standpoint,  and  ridiculous  from  the  Chris- 
tian side  of  the  house,  we  might  have  found  the  first  instru- 
mentality in  forging  a  powerful  solidarity.  That,  at  least, 
has  been  Zionism's  virtue  and  the  world  can  not  cavil  at 
such  a  solidarity,  because  in  all  truth  and  candor,  in  all 
historical  fairness,  the  world  has  compelled  it  and  still 
compels  it.  The  world  compels  us  to  laugh  and  cry  with  it; 
\ve  are  required  to  rejoice  at  its  triumphs  and  share  its  de- 
feats; we  are  bending  before  every  flag,  enlisted  in  every 


45 

army,  our  bones  are  rotting-  on  every  battlefield,  and  a  thoir 
sand  meadows  are  made  rich  with  the  blood  we  have  shed, 
—yet,  when  Israel  has  its  griefs  the  world  compels  it  to 
weep  alone;  when  Israel  complains  of  its  injustice  the 
world  sends  it  to  the  devil.  When  a  million  Cubans 
cried  our  for  deliverance,  the  mightiest  nation  on  earth 
rushed  to  the  rescue ;  but  when  five  millions  of  Jews  asked 
for  the  righting  of  century-old  wrongs,  they  are  confronted 
by  diplomatic  considerations,  by  sycophantic  compliments, 
by  fair  but  hollow  speech,  but  obtain  no  redress  and  remain 
slaves.  Is  it  not  an  eternal  truth  that  the  world  has  shifted 
problems  upon  us  which  it  declines  to  help  us  to  solve?  Is 
it  not  true  that,  in  all  that  concerns  the  salvation  of  our 
people,  we  must  help  ourselves?  Well,  then,  let  us  help  our- 
selves. If  we  are  dissatisfied  with  the  methods  of  Zionism, 
let  us  find  others.  Zionism  has  not  been  a  mere  Utopian 
scheme  to  restore  the  political  status  of  the  Jew.  It  has  been 
an  instrumentality  for  rousing  the  Jewish  consciousness. 
It  maintains  the  dominant  fact  that  the  historical  identity  of 
Israel  must  be  preserved.  It  has  ten  thousand  societies  in 
which,  besides  its  political  schemes,  the  great  theme  of 
Jewish  solidarity  is  dwelled  upon.  By  whatever  name  it 
is  called,  it  is  a  factor  in  rousing  men  to  a  sense  of  their 
true  position.  The  young  men  of  Russia  and  Austria 
are  to-day  thoroughly  alive  to  their  responsibility.  Our 
great  Odessa  master,  Ginsburgf,  writing  under  the  pseu- 
donym of  "One  of  the  People,"  has  brilliantly  vindicated 
the  great  need  of  this  solidarity  as  precedent  to  further 
organized  activity  in  the  direction  of  nationalization.  He 
says — ah,  how  true  it  is! — that  we  in  the  west  must  be- 
come Jews  again.  We  must  drink  again  from  the  wells 
of  our  own  tradition ;  we  must  become  alive  with  the 
facts  of  our  history ;  we  must  become  conscious  of  the 
strength  of  our  mission;  we  must  learn;  we  must  redeem 
our  ignorance;  we  must  put  aside  our  false  gods,  pride, 
arrogance,  the  miserable  content  of  prosperity,  the  awful 
self-deception  that  in  this  free  west  no  harm  can  befall 
us.  We  must  achieve  a  great  victory  if  beneath  the  heavens 
such  a  victory  be  again  possible!  The  recovery  of  a  domi- 


46 

nant  Jewish  consciousness  amongst  the  Jews  of  the  free 
Occident !  If  that  can  be  achieved  the  way  to  the  future  lies 
open. 

*     *     # 

The  rest  may  be  briefly  told.  You,  Sir,  are  a  master 
and  a  leader  of  men.  You  are  in  touch  with  the  strong 
men  of  our  people.  They  listen  to  you  where  our  voice 
fades  upon  the  air.  Find  out  what  is  the  matter  with  these 
men.  Ascertain  why  it  is  that  your  eastern  capitalists,  your 
lawyers,  your  professors,  your  judges,  reduce  every  Jewish 
problem  to  a  mere  question  of  charity,  a  mere  consideration 
of  how  much  of  their  surplus  ought  to  be  spent  in  relieving 
want.  They  do  not  know  as  yet  that  the  trouble  of  Israel 
lies  in  their  passiveness,  in  their  false  attitude  which  be~ 
tokens  a  declaration  that  the  problems  of  Israel  lie  outside 
of  themselves.  They  are  the  problem — at  least  one  of  the 
problems.  They  must  be  vitalized.  They  must  become 
alive  with  a  sense  of  their  personal  responsibility,  unless 
they  are  ready  to  mingle  their  blood  with  the  Gentile  and 
disappear  in  the  third  generation.  They  must  become  Jews 
again.  Convince  your  men  in  New  York,  in  Philadelphia 
and  elsewhere,  they  who  learnedly  discourse  the  theories  in 
their  studios  and  offices,  that  we  need  them  in  a  great  as~ 
sembly  where  the  public  confession  of  their  views  will 
startle  a  world  that  begins  to  believe  that  the  average  rich 
Jew,  the  average  educated  Jew  desires  to  cut  loose  from  the 
ancient  moorings.  After  all,  is  not  the  moral  courage  of 
Herzl  and  Nordau,  once  free  thinkers  and  cosmopolitans, 
thoroughly  admirable?  Is  their  example  not  more  inspir- 
ing than  that  of  your  capitalists  and  professors  whose  gal- 
ling indifference  borders  on  anti-Semitism  ?  Let  us  have  the 
congress  we,  the  rabbis,  ask  for.  Let  us  meet  these  men 
face  to  face.  Let  the  distinguished,  the  strong  men  of 
our  race  come  forth  in  the  open,  and  publicly,  fearlessly, 
subscribe  themselves  by  the  name  of  Israel.  The  force  of 
such,  a  movement  will  stir  many  questions  to  its  solution. 
The  organization  of  the  west  will  be  the  first  sign  that  the 
Jew  will  obtain  justice.  The  reawakening  of  Jewish  con- 
sciousness, the  rehabilitation  of  Jewish  literature,  the 


47 

assertive  strength  of  the  Jewish  spirit,  all  converted  into 
a  power  .to  seek  and  demand  justice  for  our  poor  people, 
will  create  conditions  confronting  which  the  world  will  be 
forced  to  meet  the  accusation  we  hurl  against  it — that  it 
persists  in  discriminating  against  Israel,  since  it  battles 
for  the  freedom  of  every  nation  whilst  Israel  remains  a 
slave.  Reawaken  the  conscience  of  the  Jew;  organize  the 
Jews  of  the  west, — compel  our  men  to  see  that  a  question 
of  justice  and  liberty  is  not  a  question  of  charity, — reach 
out  the  free  hand  of  the  West  to  the  slaves  of  the  East, — 
have  the  courage  to  open  your  heart  and  home  to  them, 
stand  by  them  with  every  fair  means  by  which  inhuman- 
ity can  be  resented  and  justice  vindicated,  and,  so  may  it 
please  God,  we  may  accomplish  our  prophetic  destiny  with- 
out the  Lion  of  the  Tribe  of  Judah,  like  a  whipped  cur, 
crawling  back  to  his  old  lair  in  the  caves  of  Judaea! 

JACOB  VOORSANGER. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CAJ.IFORMA  LIBRARY 

THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


OCT  17  1916 
?EB  26  1918 

DEC  3  01968 


CMLOCF  H  77 


30m-l,'15 


r 


YC   15602 


X 


